however, in the same state out in the eastern part of washington state and spokane county, prosecutorshey plan to keep arresting people just as they do now for pot related offenses. their argument in spokane is the only legal way to get pot in washington even after this new state law goes into effect will be to buy that pot from a state regulated pot store. and those state regulated pot stores don't exist yet, but they might soon be created if the federal government allows that to happen and nobody knows that the government will allow them to happen. this is policy soup, and i don't mean this as a munchies joke. this doesn't make any sense yet. joining us for the interview is neil frank linn. he served in law enforcement for 30 years as a narcotics officer with the maryland state police and is commander of training for the baltimore police department. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. what a great lead-in. >> you are familiar with the laws than i am. did i get the contours of that right? do you feel like the comparison with alcohol prohibition is appropriate here? >> abso

the red states for romney, the blue states for obama. the white states are those states where we don't have enough information to make a call. the rest of the states are those where our americans are still voting. john dickerson has been working on the various ways that each candidate can win the election tonight to get to the 270 votes. john, explain it to us. >> well, we haven't had any of those battle ground states come in yet. so the map is still where we saw it before. we've got governor romney at 191 and president obama at 236. if we just look at florida if that were to go to president obama he would just need to win one other state. so that shrinks of the total possible combination of states, nine battle ground states total possible combination there are 431 combinations for president obama because he starts with that early lead in states he's likely to get. there are just 76 combinations for governor romney. so if the president were to win florida that would shrink it down to one route to the presidency for governor romney he woul

the means to change and control the global order twenty years after the end of the cold war the united states and many of its allies continue to support individuals and groups around the world with the goal of influencing or even overthrowing foreign governments as america's influence the kleins relative to the rise of others is democracy promotion still in washington's interest. in each state. to cross-talk the export of democracy i'm joined by my guess in. washington john glaser he's an assistant editor and blogger for antiwar dot com thomas carruthers he is the vice president for studies at the carnegie endowment for international peace and charles who chen he is a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations and a professor of international affairs at georgetown university right gentlemen cross-talk rules and in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want john if i can go to you first where is america's democracy promotion program globally since the end of the cold war and in particularly in light of the the the uprisings in the arab world well the u.s. has been very troubled da

>> the next question for mr. leno is state proposition 35, asks if the definition of human trafficking should be expanded and penalties for traffickers increased, convicted sexual trafers be required to register as sexual offenders and officers be trained and why. what is your view and why? >> the issue of human trafficking is a serious one, san francisco is one of the top cities in the nation experiencing this kind of crime. i authored a bill sponsored by our attorney general harris this past year, which expands asset forfet tour, it is a way for us to quickly gain resources so that we can provide services for victims and invest in greater public safety police officers and investigator to deal with these crimes. i am opposed to prop 35, number one because the author of it is the single individual, deep pocket putting this forward. it is not a citizen's initiative. never came to talk to me what was wrong or short with our bill that he had to go to the ballot and expanding the definition to those who have to register as sex off

states. >>chris: you saw the list of swing states in nine of the 12 states, obama leads by one to five points over romney in real clear politics average. it seems there are three possibilities: the polls are wrong. two, romney's ground game will beat the difference, the margin in the polls. or obama will win. any feelings in bright: we have so much polling data that you can construct a scenario for any of the three possibilities you mention and probably a couple of others. the wisdom is trending to obama win along what karl rove and his team pulled off for president in 2004 but i am not certain and there is discrepancy between the national polls which done by older and more seasoned poll willing firms and at the lot state polls which are done by less established firms. the state polls, the battle ground state polls suggest and indicate that president obama is ahead in nearly all of them but the national polls have a tie. it is striking to see this difference. it is sobering if you are a romney supporter to think he is trailing or tied in so many of the states. could the polls be wrong? they c

there are very close trade relationship with israel as well as all of the arab states and the gulf states of course china is much more dependent on middle east oil now than the united states and in fact the predictions by twenty thirty five the united states will be almost free will be free of gulf oil persian gulf oil so we're moving in a very different direction in our relationship with the middle east than china is but china has been very successful and maintaining those relationships that go way back some of the earliest states to recognize china in the forty's and fifty's were the arab states many of them socialist leaning baths on r.t. but also china is very troubled by its relationships in south asia particularly other problems between pakistan and india so it's a very difficult transition for this news alert leadership they have these domestic challenges but they have to keep fueling that economy and they have and they need fuel and they can't keep relying on coal because what it's doing to their own environment as well as as well as their own sort of need to shift to a third stat

including the key battleground states of colorado, michigan and especially wisconsin which is the home state of vice- presidential candidate paul ryan. i'm frank summerville. >> and i'm julie hanker. >> residents lined up to cast their votes but thousands have voted with mailin ballots. >> lines in other parts of the country such as ohio and florida have been long. in some cases stretching around buildings. we have coverage throughout the bay area. right now we will start with the race for the white house. rita williams is in boston but we begin with ken prichard in chicago with the obama campaign. ken. >> reporter: just within the past half hour some of the thousands of president obama supporters have been allowed in this large event venu. many received tickets because they are chicago residents and live in this area and who agreed to travel and hit the road and go to the neighboring battleground states of wisconsin and campaign for the president there in the last few days. the president wants to thank them. there are many states that are intense. pennsylvania, the romney campaign is

the polls have just closed in six states, including the first of the battleground states. the results are coming in so let's get started. this is the presidential race map as we have it at this moment. the states in red are the states that cbs news projects will be carried by mitt romney. let's have a look at those quickly. the state of indiana cbs news projects will go to mitt romney and the state of kentucky cbs news projects will go to governor romney. and so far tonight we have projected president obama the winner of the state of vermont. that is all we have at the moment. all the other state state wheree polls have closed we simply don't have enough information yet to make a projection on those states. will barack obama get a second term? or will mitt romney become the 45th president? will the democrats be able to hold on to the senate or will the republicans take control? we're about to find out. it's election night on cbs. changes and i'm going to bring it to this country. >> the stock market has rebounded. our assembly lines are humming again. we are moving forward!

we are in the state house. n see everyone assembled to cover this this evening because this could go well into the night. at 7:45 p.m. we will begin to get the first of the votes. these will not be today. these will be the absentee ballot, the early votes, that is about, we think, under 2 million voters, one-third of the electorate. zero precincts reporting and the numbers, but you will begin to get numbers. that should be more democrats than not. there are people, both democrat and republican operatives it think that once we get that early vote and which will come in between 7:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., they will know if obama is far enough ahead that he will be able to carry more of governor romney has a shot. this early vote probably is going to be heavily democratic. if it's heavily, heavily democratic many blows the governor out. if it is close he has a shot at the rest of the state. we will know that, as i said, within 45 minutes. neil: thank you very much. early voting is a big issue in this election, not onl

we are in the newsroom with a look at the states and how people are handling the pressure. >> the states are close with enough electoral college votes to matter. earlier we talked with voters in ohio who love or hate the national spotlight. >> we have been in this battleground high state situation where all eyes are on cuyahoga county. >> it has been a headache. the social media network and everything. >>> cleveland polls showing less than 3 points between the presidential candidates, 8 electoral votes. virginia with a virtual dead heat and 13 electoral votes, another purple state, neither red or blue and florida, the biggest of the swing states, 29 electoral college votes where governor romney has held a steady lead in late polling. heavy turnout and long lines. one we haven't talked about is wisconsin where president obama held a narrow four point polling lead, ten electoral votes are up for grabs and the republicans have made a strong push as they have in nevada where there's six electoral college votes and narrowly for mr. obama but it is a late target for the republican party. repor

and given the cuts from the state and federal level. i know that many of our services and departments have received cuts. but it's important for the families and youth to give them support to succeed. and this supplemental is from discussions over the months. to allow how the funds are best utilized to ensure success. and our superintendent, richard, his first year as our superintendent. i am excited to see you in leadership at sfsub. >> thank you, for the opportunity to be here, this is a truly an honor. as i go around the community and talk about the partnership we have with the city of san francisco. it is truly an honor to be here and share some information with you. we would like to do this afternoon is share information around a-g, and a critically need for the school district. which is graduating our school students. and graduating students that are prepared for post-secondary education. as we know that education is part of the fabric of this community. as an overview of what we will present this afternoon. i would like to give yo

it is the longest ballot in state history. ere are 11 constitutional amendments on the ballot in florida, along with every other race. so they're afraid that there will be long lines tomorrow. if people haven't studied the ballot, people that are just trying to figure out how to go on all these constitutional amendments. we could still have a mess tomorrow during regular voting hours. >> looks like the battle in florida is going to come down to the last vote. a lot of us remember, 537 votes out of millions cast in 2000. that was the difference. >> reporter: yeah, exactly. and it is very, very close. the latest polls, mitt romney, 50%. president obama, 49%. the president's wife was here in orlando today stumping. mitt romney started in sanford, florida, this morning stumping and sanford is up in that i-4 corridor. there is a last-minute, full-court press to try and get as many of their voters out as they possibly can tomorrow because it is likely to be very, very close. >> every vote will certainly count. thanks very much, john

voting in the badger state. ed show" live from democracy plaza in new york city. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop? campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque. see what's new from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. busy in here. yeah. progressive mobile is... [ "everybody have fun tonight" plays ] really catching on! people can do it all! get a quote, buy and manage your policy! -[ music stops ] -it's great! well, what's with the... -[ music resumes ] -music? ♪ have fun tonight dude. getting a car insurance quote. i'll let it go to voicemail. [ clears throat ] ♪ everybody wang chung tonight ♪ putting it on vibrate. [ cell phone vibrates ] -[ loud vibrating ] -it'll pass. [ vibrating continues ] our giant store and your little phone. that's progressive mobile. >>> welcome back to "the ed show" coming to you from democracy plaza. we have some of the best fans. on cable and the best fans on

it's not an income problem from the state. blem, and so we got to change those benefits. >> and what's the reaction been to that? >> [laughs] well, depends on where you sit. i mean, i think the general public thinks, "i can't believe anybody gets a pension anymore. i've got a 401(k). it got killed in the stock market. i don't know what i'm gonna do for my retirement. i can't believe people get a pension anymore." so i think amongst the broad general public, they've said, "amen." and i think, among the public sector unions, they're yelling and screaming. >> and christie is yelling back. he provoked a very public fight with the teachers union, which is one of the most powerful political forces in the state of new jersey. >> and you're not compensating me for my education, and you're not compensating me for my experience. that's all. >> well, you know what? then you don't have to do it. >> it's a scene that is starting to play out all over the country. >> cuts, cuts, cuts, and more cuts. >> governors of cash-strapped states are be

let's take a look at the state's romney needs to win to become president of the united states. joining me is pollster fred yang. good to have you with us tonight. what's the most likely scenario for both candidates tomorrow? >> the most likely scenario is that barack obama will be reelected president of the united states. i think all analysts and pundits from both parties are looking at eight or nine key battleground states. and i think in addition to looking at the national polls, the exit polls and the state polls, i think we should know by 8:00 whether this is going to be a long night and a good night for president obama. i think we have virginia, ohio, and florida, three mega battleground states all that will have poll closing times by 8:00. >> what are the early indicators mitt romney has a shot at winning? >> well, i think he needs to win virginia. if we go through the night by time, virginia closes at 7:00. if the exit polls and the voter totals show mitt romney will win virginia, then he sort of stays in the game. then the big battleground state, a lot of pundits have sa

the wiccan. in a number of states. the thing is, they were establishment republicans as well as ambitious republicans who want to run for president who are afraid to take on the tea party. on the other hand there are republicans who are looking at -- they are losing power and thinking, we have got to do something different. but even among those people there is a fear that if they decide to do something different -- olympia snowe, who is wildly popular in maine, do you think if she had been nominated again she would not be elected? there would not be a race. she did not want to -- she had it with trying to adapt to this new reality that involve the tea party people. the question is, which is going to dominate? fear or opportunity? if the focus is on opportunity, then i think the republicans will start adapting. they will turn more and more to people like jeb bush, who will urge them to reach out to latinos, support immigration reform, do some things that right now are anathema to the party because of the tea party types.

went along and accepted that and in the middle east now you see the united states learning to adjust to a different kind of government in egypt and actually making i think it's a seer effort to get along with the muslim brotherhood led government in the hopes that you know the united states in a different egypt can get along i agree that the intervention in iraq was misguided and that the united states as charles said greatly overestimated its ability to bring about a political transformation of iraq but that was a military intervention carried out for other reasons which was then justified and tried to turn into a political reconstruction mission ok charles what do you think about that because again there's a lot of hypocrisy here and people on the ground see it ok the americans will support this democratic movement but not that one i mean how do you explain that to them i think you just sit straight like we're doing on this show and exact the idea that there are moments when the united states can lean forward and push democracy there are other moments when the trade offs

it would mean the feds would likely still trump the states. listen. >> if governor romney is elected president, this will be sort of a push behind him to invalidate most of obama care. if the president is reelected, this will be a force, a numerical force that he have to contend with as he tries to implement obama care. to that extent the numbers could be helpful. but they will not change the law. >> the law will stay the same. at the very least we have a much better idea in those four states exactly what those residents think about the healthcare reform law, shep. >> shepard: trace, some could get changes in the tax law. >> yeah, there are 31 tax measures across the country, shep. most of them are meant just to simply change state tax codes. one will actually lower taxes if passed and the rest will raise taxes. you can see there, arizona and arkansas both pushing sales tax increases. missouri pushing up a tobacco tax and california's propositions would do an income as well as sales tax. the only one of those that's polling well is the tobacco

the granite state today. they have 800,000 people registered to vote. and new hampshire has a provision where they allow people to register to vote when they come into the polling place. so it's possible we could be seeing another 100,000 people signing up to vote today. gut again expect a very heavy volume through new hampshire. a state that can't be described as red or blue right now, because it's so evenly divided down the middle. right now, new hampshire is purple. it might be later today, 7:00 tonight, or even later before we know what color it really wants to turn. john? >> david, thank you so much. new hampshire truly has become a swing state. another swing state, ohio. the one many believe could ultimately determine the winner of this whole thing. polls in the buckeye state have been open for about half an hour right now. as we mentioned one of mitt romney's final campaign rallies today is in ohio. carol costello is live in blue ash, ohio, which is right near cincinnati. good morning, carol. i see vote

across the state the secretary of state, bill gardener, is expecting big, big turnout. are departmented to go to the polls, but the tea leaves are pretty tough to read here. they don't do the early voting we see in other states. you can, of course, cast an absentee ballot, but it's tough to get a read. we did have a chance to speak to some voters outside, and here's what they had to say. who are you voting for and why? >> mitt romney. i want a commander in chief, not a campaigner in chief. nothing's been done, nobody holds him accountable. i'm done. >> i voted for obama. that's all you wanted to know, right? >> reporter: and why? >> um, just because i like the man. i think he can do the rest of the job. >> reporter: interesting insight from the granite state voters. another interesting part of what's happening here in new hampshire is just how enthusiastic people are about voting in general. the secretary of state expects that seven out of ten voters, about 70% of the people that are old enough to vote will actually vote. last time around in 2008, new hampshire was seco

states on the map. those states could go late into the night. there's no question there are still folks voting in line in south florida who have been there for a while. so i think that will take time to close out. new hampshire, voting continues for a little while more. and then i assume allize will turn to ohio and the midwest. >> suarez: ben lebolt from the obama campaign. thank you. >> ifill: we can tell you you the associated press projected a winner in three states, kentucky, vermont, and virginia. kentucky, of course, for mitt romney, who we see-- i'm going to fix that in a moment. i said virginia and i meant west virginia. vermont for president obama. and, of course, in west virginia, not virginia, we're waiting on the edge of our seats to see what happens in virginia-- for mitt romney. so that's very early tonight. the two networks, however, have called winners in south carolina, and in indiana. and that takes to us margaret warn who are is at romney headquarters in boston with a guest. margaret?

we think people in the united states have not studied their history. he national report card, most americans think the united states is sufficient -- is deficient in math and science. high school seniors are weakest in u.s. history, and the public in general knows very little u.s. history. tavis: what makes you think we are ready for that conversation now. >> the united states is in a transitional time. we cannot dictate all over the world. we are just in the process of losing two major wars. it is a terrible war. if the united states gets involved in another war, we should have our heads examined, so people are starting to rethink this idea of the united states being super power. it is not working. we cannot afford it anymore. he says we are not going to cut any of our defense spending. part of it is a necessity. >> you made a point that we do not know anything about our history. you said two things. number one, it depends who is history we talk about. there is a phrase, you call it history. we call it his story. so much of what i take from reading the

ohio, the state we have just been talking about and also nevada, big harry reid's home state, the senate leader, big union vote, big hispanic vote there. if he gets those three things, barack obama gets to 271 electoral votes and wins, tyler. >> but not any three of those nine states? >> specifically those three. >> specifically those three. say it again, ohio, nevada -- >> ohio, wisconsin, nevada. if barack obama gets those three, can win every other swing state -- >> do the polls tell us that he is ahead in those three? >> yes. >> they do? >> he is ahead in all three. in fact of the nine swing states, tyler, mitt romney has a clear lead only in the state of north carolina. he is even with president obama in florida and many strategists in both parties believe florida will go to mitt romney but he has got to get a lot more than that. >> john harwood, thank you very much. as john outlined it is very difficult for either candidate, frankly, to get to that magic 270 number without the state of ohio and here's video evidence from cleveland as to how important it is. both the romney and the

of the battleground states, the most important may be at this moment, the state of florida already 41% of precincts reporting because they do so automatically, and largely because -- there are two times in florida. the eastern time, we all know this from the 2000 election, the eastern time zone has been closed for an hour. the panhandle, which means fort walton beach, panama city, pensacola, all the counties around the panhandle had just closed, so their numbers are not yet in. the old saying about florida is the for the north you go, the father southern you get, which means the panhandle is republican territory. the southeast part of the status democratic territory. what decides florida is the interstate corridor that stretches from tampa to orlando and all the way to daytona beach and some small communities in between. that area there will decide florida. that area is in. the panhandle is just coming in. let's look at florida again. it is lopsided at the moment. you can see or you will be able to see in a moment that in a state of florida with 41% of precincts reported, there is a lo

guest: columbus the state capital is where the ohio state is, that has become the key swing area of the state. it is growing. it has younger voters. it is a fluent. it is in an area that the previous bush's had one. but president obama made it flipped and took it by several percentage points. i think you are seeing a lot of attention in going there. this weekend, president obama will be finishing topping off his ohio campaigning in central ohio. in the past tv of cycles, we -- past two cycles, we have seen the democratic candidate come up in northeast ohio and try to make that pushed. i think he is comfortable with the get out to vote efforts. he ought to go down -- he has to appeal to the swing areas. more independent voters. and you had this educated, affluent group, the base around ohio state university. and that has been critical. in the end, if you show that map, ohio is broken up, we have said it for years into 5 ohios. those five areas, plus some of the border areas, we have about seven media markets. it makes a very expensive to campaign here. in gubernatorial races and some pre

the state-by of it state numbers are different. the unemployment rate, for example, in the state of ohio is 7%. people feel better about the economy. i am not sure if a voter in ohio thinks he's in a better place than florida because the unemployment rate is lower, but you do have a sense from the republican governors, in ohio and wisconsin and iowa, the economy is better. that is helping the president in some of these battleground areas. it's worse in nevada. the highest rate of foreclosures and unemployment in any battleground state. in the midwest firewall, the economy is better because of manufacturing and the auto industry and other things. i think that is sort of propping him up here-- >>> the firewall of wisconsin, ohio and iowa. the other big story was hurricane sandy, the the way it froze the campaign and allow the the president to look presidential, doing his job. and then there was a powerful political image -- let's put that up. certainly the most powerful political image of the final week, obama walking the jersey shore

shows a bunch of kids in a classroom looking at a map of the united states and the entire united statesit says "ohio" and one child says "i like the new map. it's a lot easier than memorizing the 50 states." that really kind of wraps it up in terms of the importance for the candidates, again and again governor romney and the president were here as recently as yesterday. i talked to some ohio voters in the last couple of days about the saturation of coverage. if you watch tv in this state, you literally see one tv commercial after another for political candidates, they say they can't wait till those commercials are over. they will end today. >> a lot of people turned off their phones, as well, ron claiborne. want to go to donna brazile. you've run democratic campaigns. what you saw was a two-front war by the democrats here. ron claiborne talked about bludgeonen on the airwaves those commercials and also the president invested an awful lot of money on the ground in ohio in getting out his votes and had allies in organized labor >> that's right. look, they spent a lot of time identifying n

looking to the race to the states. we'll take a look at the road that each candidate can take to get to that magic number. >> it's been one week since hurricane sandy forever changed the east coast and so many lives along it with. the recovery effort and how the storm is impacting polling stations. that's coming up. >> we've got a packed show for you this morning, four hours. among our guests, rob portman will be joining us, maryland congressman chris van hollen, pat tomby, arizona senator john mccain is with us. former treasury secretary larry summers is our guest. obama campaign deputy manager stephanie cutter, former white house press secretary bill burden all joining us this morning. and we're counting down the final hours of a marathon battle for the white house, just too close to call today. this morning after 17 months of campaigning and $3 billion spent, it has come down to this. a brand new cnn/orc vote of likely voters released last night shows that mitt romney and president obama are in a tie, 49% apiece. bot

and that is being scored and tabulated each year by the state. and it is hopefully going to be restored over time. but in the past six years we have been making do with the resources you see on this chart. >> just to clarify, that's the projected statutory cola, the difference between that and the orange line? >> that's correct. >> and that's what is calculated with the state and hopefully there is repayment of that gap. >> correct, supervisor. just a couple of other points that are pertinent to the item before you. in the spring of 2009, was when the board of education passed its a-g graduation requirements. you see in this context that was right before this precipitous decrease in the state's funding for schools. the board of ed passed the graduation requirements in may of 2009. the budget from the state for fy-09/10 had not yet been passed. and that occurred several months later. and the result of that budget, you see the significant decrease in funding. that's one point to note. and as the superintendent mentioned in that fiscal year, 09-10, w

states. we are, and forever will be, the united states of america. and together, will your help, and god's grace, we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth. thank you, america. god bless you. god bless you, united states. >> let's talk more about those red states and blue states and those critical swing states, of course. john berman has more than at. >> 303 electoral votes that's what president obama has in his pocket this morning. more than a lot of people had predicted. let's talk about three of the states that helped him get there. let's start with ohio. this is the swing state everyone thought could decide the election. the president on top there right now by over 100,000 votes. it was the auto bailout, our exit polls show, also big margins in cuyahoga county, traditional democratic area around cleveland that helped him carry ohio. next up, virginia. very interesting tale to tell in virginia. for much of the night, president obama seemed to be trailing in virginia. but he

assuring the swing states in this election. this morning on the washington journal, we want to hear from the voters in the non-yellow states. everyone else in a blue, give us a call. we want to hear what you think about campaign 2012. our phone lines are open. we have already been getting a few comments on facebook. we want to start of christopher's from minnesota, he writes in, the electoral college needs to go away. john from maryland -- in other non-swing state writes -- my view is that the media has made too much out of the debates and hasn't focused enough of its energy on the ground with actual voters and personal stories. and finally, my goal from massachusetts writes, since my vote will not matter, have put my energy into getting democratic support for president obama when he is reelected, elizabeth warren for senate. we want to hear from those in non-swing states this morning. the phone lines are open. as we are waiting for you to call, i will point to the front page of usa today. the headline -- four days to seal the d

here's a look at the electoral map some of the big states actually we'll get to that just what we're looking at right now what we were looking at just a moment ago was the obama. party the rally there in chicago illinois they're cheering about something we're assuming it could be some information that we just heard as well and that is that the denver post has called the state of colorado for president obama so if they're cheering i mean they are cheering but that's what i'm going to guess they're cheering about now let's get to the electoral map sure and the electoral map using colorado now tentatively blue some of the big states out west just closed including california literally a minute ago with california fifty five electoral votes it's of course not figuring into the tally that we have right now neither of the votes for colorado if that's accurate right now we do have governor mitt romney with one hundred ninety nine electoral votes and president obama with one hundred eighty one again polls out on the west coast just now closing going to be a little while before we find that out

30 cure the state's budget problems? and will the growing economy take the state out of danger? a new approach to ridding california of air pollution, it's called cap and trade and it's under legal attack. an assessment of how it work or it doesn't. techies say the election was won or lost in the digital realm. but not everyone agrees. and an in-depth look at the fight over public nudity in san francisco. coming up next. >>> good evening. i'm spencer michaels. welcome to this week in northern california. joining me tonight, marisa lagos, san francisco chronicle, city hall reporter. hari sreenivasan, senior correspondent for the pbs news hour. lauren sommer, science and environment reporter. and josh richman, bay area news group political reporter. josh, let's start with you. all of a sudden it seems like california, which was in the depths, is now rolling in money. and there's more taxes, we've passed proposition 30. i can't believe there's that much of a turn-around. is there? >> well, there is a turn-around. i wouldn't say we're rolling in money. i've never seen a state so happ

be in the state of ohio which is the battle ground state. : thank you, steve. now look what we have: cuyahoga county, you heard the word, it is cleveland and surrounding, and it is is important that everyone knows there are keys to winning for the republican and the democrats there. joining us is the republican committee chair, problem, and the democratic counterpart, stewart, on the right. good morning, gentleman. rob, what is the key in cuyahoga county? >> our key here is turning out our vote in cuyahoga county. i want to make sure your viewers know that cuyahoga county can deliver the highest vote total of any county in ohio for governor romney tomorrow. we intend to do that and we intend to deliver the 18 electoral votes for governor romney and winning ohio and the presidency. >>shepard: what do you need for numbers for the president to go, okay, ohio is all right. >>guest: we are looking for 2008 numbers, perhaps better, but 2008 we came in at 258,000 plurality and that was sufficient to carry president obama through to victory state-wid

what does that mean for the state? >> remember the superman movie where gene hackman's plan was to push california into the seats. you have to wonder that democrats aren't the lex luther for california's future and they have raised highest rates past marginal rates, 13.3%, jerry brown did that by threatening to dramatically cut funding from school, as a result of. a lot of young voters who came out to vote for this because they were worried, but the business climate in california just terrible and now, as you said, the first time ever they're going to have the super majority they need to raise taxes further and they don't need to go to the ballot anymore. and i think that bodes very ill for california. >> colin, what other initiatives did you think were significant? >> well, you know, some of the other initiatives that were interesting were the ones about gay marriage. >> yeah. >> and obviously, you know, these initiatives, i think, are going to be important, especially because the supreme court is going to be looking a

the only thing that has changed is that that state and the other states that now offer marriage equalityrovide their citizens with a more equal and welcoming union. that is really the only difference in between before marriage equality and after marriage equality. and that's an issue that the opponents of equality really do not face. they want to make it appear as if marriage equality will bring huge devastating ominous effects and they try to scare thoughtful good people into believing that there will be an awful lot of problems. and the truth is that there will be no problems at all. and that the only net effect of marriage equality in the states will be really a more equal and welcoming state and country for all americans. host: you mention it had defense of marriage act lfment the supreme court consider that? >> november 20 is an historic and important day for lgbt americans the supreme court that day will conference on six cases. the first case that i mentioned is around the constitutional challenge to proposition 8 coming from california. then they will consider a case coming out o

when you look at the states, the president of the united states at the moment, leading. leading, and leading in minnesota. made a plate play there. governor romney leading in wisconsin. only 13%. romney campaign keeps saying, remember the governor's race, we'll surprise you. the president with a lead here. let's watch the results. see if it's a republican surprise in wisconsin. that's just ten. sorry for touching that again. the question, can he figure this one out. about half of the vote in the state of ohio, we repeat this history a lot. history worth repeating. no republican has ever won without this state. ohio has picked the winner since 1964. wolf, you start look agent this and you say, again, where is it going to come from? hamilton county, republicans need this to be red. close state wide elections. 18% in. we watch this one play out. the president winning in a place mitt romney needs to win. come to franklin county in the middle of the state, about half of the vote in. 62% to 36%. let's take a peek and see. compare that to 2008, 60%. president overperforming his

that's regulated by the state. are you saying that the fed wants to get in on the act and preempt the states? >> i think it's a possibility, paul, yes. >> paul: so that would complicated drilling decisions by companies and potentially add to costs even though it's been a big boon to president obama's economy. >> you'd think this is the one area where the regulators might want to have a light touch, unformer, it's probably-- >> james, af been following the financial services industry and dodd frank, i know it's your favorite bill, it's much loved across the land. >> certainly. >> paul: but most of these bills, most of the rules, i think, haven't been written. >> you think of the first obama term with its slow growth, and regulatory frenzy, a nightmare, but really, from that 2010 law, most of the burden on the economy hasn't happened yet. the law firm does a scoreboard and they say they're 398 rule makings, separate rule makings that were required by the law. >> these are relatively major. >> yeah, really, remaking th

that will give the state to romney. king place, early voting in pennsylvania, the same trend. bill: you are predicting a romney victory, the way you are describing this. you are chalking up 3000 electoral votes for him. >> 300-plus. i think he will carry those battleground states. bill: do we come back tomorrow and say bring the beast back? >> it's the economy, it's because people don't like the deviciveness, it's because people are genuinely afraid for this country. bill: i know you folks are struggling on long island. >> it's devastation. bill: are local officials and the federal government giving you what you need? >> we didn't get the generators into the places they should have been quickly enough, for example. and it wasn't because of a lack of effort. these things have to be preplanned. you have to know when gas stations go down you have to have generators so you can pump out the gas. that's why you have huge gas lines. hopefully we learned a lesson. there will be storms in the future. bill: thank you. sir beast we

the romney has won one state so far. the sweng states, north carolina barely. nate. senate is a democrat seat they're losing hispanics, women. branding problem on the republican party is reminiscent of i lick to say of the wigs if they don't do something to expand their appeal they're going to keep getting these elections.. >> reach out to minorities. >> minorities. yes. look two things tonight. it's the highest it's been since franklin roosevelt was president in the middle of a real depression. in exit polls others have commented and i saw it from the beginning on the whether if he wants big government or small government it's about a 10 point margin with this elector yil yit tonight for smaller government. republicans can't, were not winning with that. that tells you something is wrong. and you know, if you look deeper into results you get more worried. >> when you look at that popular vote and you see how divided the country is and how more voted for romney than obama tonight look at -- look. >> divided. >> look how divided and right down to raw numbers in po