standby for my interview with walter mondale. he's worried the top democrat just isn't connecting with the american people. >>> and how vulnerable is america's rail system to terrorist attacks right now? we're taking a closer look at what's being done to wrap up security and the element of risk that may never want to go away. >>> we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the "situation room." >>> and the damage left by this recession is so deep that it's going to take a long time to get out. it will take determination, persistence, and most importantly, the will to act. all elements that the american people have in abundance. and if we summon that spirit now, if we keep moving forward, i'm absolutely convinced we will rebuild our economy, we will put our people back to work, and we'll come through these tough days to brighter and better days ahead. >> president obama acknowledging the painful realities for so many americans driven home in the big jobs report numbers just coming

i think that's what we need now. >> woodruff: former vice president walter mondale.is "the good fight: a life in liberal politics." thank you very much for coming by. >> thank, judy. >> woodruff: we appreciate i. >> thank you. >> brown: here's a distribution of something called "california is a place." >> i'm devil ray. >> and i'm zachary and we are the creators of "california is a place." an online series of short-form documentaries about the golden state. >> when we started the project if 2009, foreclosures were something that, you know, everyone was dealing with, we're talking about, if they weren't affected by it personally, they knew someone who was and the visual focus of these abandoned swimming pools to us was just mesmerizing. it was something that was deeply personal. i mean, people lived in these homes for years and years and all of a s.u.d. therein's nobody there. but you can see sort of the remnants of pham a family's life in these backyards. meanwhile, you know, on the other hand it was this opportunity for these skaters of fresno. and i think that's wh

>>> coming up walter mondale, but first this is "today" on >>> coming up walter mondale, but first thishis message. the real andy harris. his past attacks have been called deceptive, his new attack, false. harris voted for deregulation increasing our electric bills by 72% it's not surprising, harris always sides with the big guys. he opposes cracking down on wall street and supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. harris even opposed making big insurance cover cancer screenings. andy harris' extreme ideas will cost us. four years ago, bob ehrlich got fired as governor of maryland. for good reason. first, he protected tax loopholes for giant cable cable companies. then, he let utilities jack up our rates 72%. and for the last four years, he worked as a hired gun for big corporations, even a bank that took billions from a taxpayer funded bailout. ehrlich sides with corporate executives again and again and again tell bob ehrlich big banks and billionares don't need help. middle class marylanders do. eaks to send jobs over seas. i think we need tax breaks to send kids to c

>> well, because walter mondale lost 49 states to ronald reagan and if you have to take advice from walterat's a problem. i think obama's main problem is the condition of the country and the policy he's pursuing. there's a weird sense in which this is like a kid on training wheels on a bike. if you take away the training wheels, he'll fall off the bike so i think it is a problem. >> and michael, let me turn to you. you were a speechwriter. >> yeah. >> if you were advising. >> a former speechwriter, i like the teleprompter. >> they stick to the script. >> they stick to the script. but in informal circumstances, it becomes a shield. it separates you from people. i think, though, the bigger problem is not when it comes to emotional connection is not the teleprompter but really the president's manner which is prophetsorial and you look at the "rolling stone" magazine interview that he did, he's scolding everyone. democrats, republicans, the american voter. he tends to stand above these debates and it comes across as rather cold. >> two of you have written a book together called "city of man."

by the way, i'm interviewing the former vice president, walter mondale.jimmy carter's running ma mate, former vice president in the next hour. i think you're going to see this interview with walter mondale. >>> allegations just hours before the candidate s meet eac other face-to-fail. you're going to see why this question is at the center of one of the country's most contentious senate races. >>> four weeks to go to the election. the ads are getting tougher and tougher. let's discuss in our strategy sessions, two political contributors, the democratic strategist, donna brazil, and ed rawlings. let's talk about connecticut first. linda mcmahon, the republican candidate is running against her democratic opponent, richard blumenthal, watch this. >> would you lie about serving in a war? >> we have learned something very important since the days that i served in vietnam. >> he lied about vietnam. what else is he lying about? >> all right, let me go to donna first. he served in the marine corps in the vietnam war. but he never served in vietnam. "the new york t

now, that's music to my ears. ♪ >> sean: last week it was dukakis this week it is walter mondale. >>nd he uses these idiot boards, to read speeches in television. i think he loses the connection that he needs emotionally with american voters. >> sean: idiot boards? now we blame the teleprompter? frank luntz is next. [ male announcer ] millions of men 45 and older just don't feel like they used to. are you one of them? remember when you had more energy for 18 holes with your buddies? [ glass shatters ] more passion for the one you love? more fun with your family and friends? it could be a treatable condition called low testosterone, or low t. c'mon, stop living in the shadows. you've got a life to live. [ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor and go to isitlowt.com to find out more. >> sean: we continue with frank luntz and our live focus group in california. i think this is too important an issue to leave without some closure. specifically, here it is five weeks before this campaign. this woman that worked for meg whitman she now is at risk for serious arre

lédététttws m2gwtu@c@8 >> sean: last week it was dukakis this week it is walter mondale. >> and he usese idiot boards, to read speeches in television. i think he loses the connection that he needs emotionally with american voters. >> sean: we continue with frank luntz and our live focus group in california. i think this is too important an issue to leave without some closure. specifically, here it is five weeks before this campaign. this woman that worked for meg whitman she now is at risk for serious arrest and deportation. she may have broken many laws and filed many false forms, et cetera. on top of being in the country illegally. why would anybody risk the possible deportation, when she has three kids in this country? i don't understand why there is not more outrage with the focus group on that. >> i want to start on that question sean with a gentleman whose father came here illegally who has been through this roses. surely you can see the challenge economically with the situation right now and how it is now playing into politics. you can't be happy with how immigration has played?

clark is back on the campaign trail with with walter mondale. >> i'm excited about carol clark ms candidacynd 82-year-old former vice president can still throw a political jab. >> the incumbent has made a national reputation of constantly dwellingen on things that polarize america. carol doesn't do her politics that way. she a unifier. >> i'm envisioning a good old fashioned cat fight between the two. >> bob anderson makes dental crowns and implants for a living and he is the independence party candidate for the 6th district seat. polling suggests his support is in the low single digits. >> a tough battle and michele bachmann is not a quiet candidate. they know about her a lot more than they know about me. >> hi, you guys. >> and, of course, bachman is looking to keep it that way, busting out a two day bus tour of businesses in her district. >> thanks for coming out. >> reporter: one of the bus stops was a bakery where inside was an entirely edible state map and a mini bachman bus. >> you dowd haven't done a better -- you couldn't have done a better job. it was beautiful. >> access to bachm

walter mondale who was also vice president under jimmy carter says he uses these idiot boards to read speeches in television and i think he loses the connection he needs emotionally with american voters. mondale by the way lost the 1984 election to president ronald reagan. mondale picked up 13 electoral votes winning only d.c. and his home state of minnesota. >>> finally, italy's prime minister is getting flak for an off-color joke he made on his 74th birthday last week. the head of rome's jewish community joined the vatican newspaper and others blasting silvio berlusconi for his quip about jews, money, and the holocaust. berlusconi sort of apologized, maintaining what he said wasn't a sin or an offense, just a joke. the bad taste was in those who published it. this is not the first time berlusconi's mouth got himself in trouble. he described the president-elect obama once as young, happenedsome and even tanned and has joked about hitler returning to power. >>> back at home on a much more serious note. wednesday, president obama will present the highest honor to family of the warrior

walter mondale just said he uses these idiot boards and i think he loses the connection he needs emotionallyident mondale did later call the president brilliant. guessing the idiot board comment will make more headlines. >> have you ever said what are these clowns doing? they just elect add actual clown. the 45-year-old clown had 1.3 million votes over the weekend. his campaign slogan was, it can't get any worse vote for me the clown's opponents tried to have him barred claiming he was it literate which would disqualify him. american politicians should learn from this story. threw you have the best of the rest. >> you think president obama was awake midnight saturday? hopefully not. we'll show you why. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week, one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this

. >>> also the former vice president of the united states, walter mondale, he has some advice for presidentwants to be a two-term president. >>> and hillary clinton, the secretary of state, she weighs in on some personal issues including her husband's diet and the wedding. all that and a lot more coming up right here in "the situation room." don, back to you. >> thank you, wolf, we'll be watching. >>> in our new series the human factor we introduce you to truly amazing people with stories that inspire us. in learning their stories we discover remarkable things about them including something we like to call the human factor. this week our dr. sanjay gupta introduces us to a neurosurgeon who took a unique path to medicine. >> reporter: this is dr. alfredo. they call him dr. q. here taking out a life threatening brain tumor. >> this is quite an operating room. scans up, interoperative ct scanner. >> johns hopkins, one of the finest hospitals in the world. is this your room? >> this is my room. they built it specifically for our service. >> reporter: at 42, dr. q is at the top of his game. but

. >> bill: walter mondale criticized president obama's use of teleprompters. >> i think he tends to andes these idiot boards to read speeches in television and i think he loses the connection that he needs emotionally with an american voters. >> i want to assure everybody we do not use idiot boards here. [ laughter ] >> bill: mondale ran for president in 1984 but lost 49 states to ronald reagan. what one state did vote for walter? that is correct. minnesota. >> steve: his own. >> bill: you continue to lead by one with two questions to go, doocy. you're not having a good night. >> sorry. >> bill: you don't look like you care. >> no, no. i care. >> bill: he is bucking up now. here is question number four. the city of del ihi india is usg unorthodox security methods to keep peace during the games. >> bill: roll the tape. >> they are on bike and on foot and they are not to be messed with. meet the team of langors. large species of monkeys who like many others have been employed to work during the commonwealth games. >> bill: there you go. beck has the same monkeys guarding him. question num

walter mondale just said he uses these idiot boards and i think he loses the connection he needs emotionallyter call the president brilliant. guessing the idiot board comment will make more headlines. >> have you ever said what are these clowns doing? they just elect add actual clown. the 45-year-old clown had 1.3 million votes over the weekend. his campaign slogan was, it can't get any worse vote for me the clown's opponents tried to have him barred claiming he was it literate which would disqualify him. american politicians should learn from this story. threw you have the best of the rest. >> you think president obama was awake midnight saturday? hopefully not. we'll show you why. i have asthma. and when my symptoms came back i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 mutes. symbict will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. sym

>>> coming up walter mondale, my dad is the supervisor of a train station and my mom's a teacher.'m not sure i would have been able to afford college without the tuition freeze. while tuition in other states is ring out of rea... governor o'malley made the tough choice to freeze tuition. he made my dream of going to college into a reality. i'm the first in my family to go to college. my brother and i never would have been able to afford college. even though times were tough... governor o'malley kept his promise. there's never a doubt... there's never a doubt whose side he's on. martin o'malley... moving maryland forward. >>> at the age of 32, walter mondale became the youngest attorney general in minnesota history beginning a life of public service. he went on to service in the u.s. senate and as vice president under president jimmy carter and he is opening up about it all. i have to ask as you sat down to write your memoirs, what lsons from your political career did you deliberately put into the book as it relates to today's environment? because there are some very eerily similar

lot people in 1984 looked up and said we the second ronald reagan makes more sense to me than walter mondale people i don't think i'm a democrat i think i'm republican and i came into the party with ireland and other conservatives, a lot of northeastern catholic voters and midwestern ethnic catholic voters can to the republican party and there was this talk about the -- a lot was driven about not only economics of the cultural aspects. abortion was an issue and i remember the story but the party being taken over by all these people and the country club republicans versus the social conservatives and the was the big story and we won and we thir ross perot had run and some would argue may have resulted in former president bush 41 closing and president clinton winning but clearly had a big impact. a lot of the voters can into the republican party and the process -- -- of the short of a is the more people coming to a party e better and i'm glad they are coming into the party. they are concerned about what people have been voting republic and going to republican mtings for years are concerned abo

former vice president walter mondale has some advice for president obama.mpter if you want a second term. >> i think he tends to -- and he uses these idiot boards to read speeches in television, and i think he loses the connection that he needs emotionally with american voters. >>> cnn has confirmed the authenticity of a secretly recorded conversation where we hear republican u.s. senate candidate sharron angle trying to talk a nevada tea party candidate into dropping out of the race. >> i'm not sure that you can win and i'm not sure that i can win if you're hurting my chances. and that's the -- that's the part that's scare to me. >> total soap opera quality there to that race. you know, what's going to happen in the political race? is anybody going to get in trouble with the law? >> it's a breathtaking senate race and another fascinating development in it. our national political correspondent jesse yellin is with us. let's go to jon ralston. he's the nevada journalist who got this tape from the other tea party candidate. and jon, every time we talk about t

joe biden is doing a great job of it now. >> the book is "the good fight" walter mondale, thank you for ] greed. the wealthiest corporations. billions in profits and bonuses. and the sacramento politicians just gave these same corporations a new billion dollar handout... paid for by cuts to education and public safety with no guarantee of creating one new job. but we can change this by voting yes on proposition 24. prop 24 repeals the billion dollar giveaway and protects our schools and communities. yes on prop 24. it's time to give us a break... not the big corporations. >>> 34 years filled with laughs, diet issues and boyfriend problems. the comic strip kathy came to an end on sunday. george lewis caught up with it's creator. >> it started illustrating the worst moments of my day. i would send the drawings home with notes to mom and dad telling them i was doing okay. >> she sent those angst written doodles to a comic strip syndicate for and launched her career as a cartoonist. in 1978, with her strich and a handful of papers after two years she appeared on the "today" show. >> the wom

walter mondale did not win because he promised the raise taxes, and there is a fine line and i'm notsing it, but the voters will decide it, but a fine line of perm and aggressive and the chris christie style from new jersey and going like off of the cliff. >> does he fall into the tea party camp like christine o'donnell in delaware, rand paul in kentucky and sharron angle in nevada, is carl paladino like that? >> yes and no in the sense that everybody in albany knows him. he is a big real estate developer and he has worked for tax breaks for the projects and things, but yes, he was not the endorsed establishment republican candidate, so for those who are looking for somebody different who does not fit the establishment mold, those rallied, including the tea party people around carl paladino, but a big question is that anti-washingtonians will stir it up, and send in people who are wanting other people. people are so mad at washington, but does it come to the same way when it comes to the governor and more personal decision. >> well, you have the give him credit, because he crushed ri

just make messages of the other wonderful public servants that are here, former vice president walter mondales in the house. your terrific pair of senators, amy and al franken are here, an outstanding congressional did he live calls, keith ellison, jim obersar and all the great candidates. we're thild thrilled to see them. obviously i am very honored to be here with mark because, i served with mark in the united states senate. so i know this man. i know that he has been fighting for the people of this state his entire career. you know what kind of leader he is. you know what kind of fighter he is. everybody else in this race may be talking about change, here is the only candidate that can deliver change and delivered change before. [ applause ] >> the only candidate who helped grow this state's economy. the only candidate that put people back to work. the only candidate who saved taxpayer dollars by cutting abuse. he has a track record. you know mark dayton. he is only candidate that will stand up for the middle-class, on who has a plan to balance the budget without sacrificing our children's

i decided he did not deserve a second term, so i voted for -- went to work for walter mondale. thought that we were going to win right up until the end. we lost 49 states. [laughter] we got a 33 got -- we got a total of 13 electoral votes. i went from there to the mayoral office of los angeles. i went to work for micrococcus after that. [laughter] there is a theme here. that did not work very good so i worked for dianne feinstein, who had done two successful terms for san francisco and was running for governor of california. obviously, with my help she lost. [laughter] since then, she has been elected to the u.s. said that without my help. it is pretty obvious then why bill clinton called me in the fall of 1991. who would not want me on their team at that point? at that point, governor clinton was not given much chance to win but i liked what he was saying. he was talking about things that i thought democrats needed to talk about. i agreed to work on his campaign. and probably, we won the democratic nomination and he was elected president and i became the white house press secr

lot people in 1984 looked up and said we the second ronald reagan makes more sense to me than walter mondale people i don't think i'm a democrat i think i'm republican and i came into the party with ireland and other conservatives, a lot of northeastern catholic voters and midwestern ethnic catholic voters can to the republican party and there was this talk about the -- a lot was driven about not only economics of the cultural aspects. abortion was an issue and i remember the story but the party being taken over by all these people and the country club republicansersus the social conservatives and the was the big story and we won and we won big in '84 and thin and 92 after ross perot had run and some would argue may have resulted in former president bush 41 clong and president clinton winning but clearly had a big impact. a lot of the voters can into the republican party and e process -- -- of the short of a is the more people coming to a party th better and i'm glad they are coming into the party. they are concerned about what people have been voting republican and going to republican meeti

walter mondale was the embodiment of the great society.the quintessential republican. given the dynamic of this campaign, what lessons do you think the two parties, especially the republicans, will take from this election and looking forward to 2012? >> i think there will be two camps in the republican -- extremely conservative tea party republicans will take the conservation -- the confirmation of their thesis of 2008 was a rejection of republicans for not being conservative enough. more of the same, the enthusiastic, aggressive rhetoric. a return to what could be considered to be unrestricted -- unroot constructed -- unreconstructed cold water. -- goldwater. they need to harness, but not become involved with the party conservatism because they will not yet been convinced that would be a sufficient message to carry a majority of the electorate when republicans are no longer purely the out party. i think what you will see in 2012 is a proxy war between these two camps, translating one into a lasting majority. >> i think there will be some