willie mccubbie retired in the 60s but still attends games.felt as elated when the 2010 team finally broke through. >> that was evident at the parade. we brought the whole community along with them. so it was very exciting. >> reporter: mccubbie is the product of not just a different era in giant's history but a different era in the history of the entire city. in 1962 fans were listening and on edge on the final day of the regular season. the giant's beat the houston colt 45s 2-1. while the dodgers lost to the cardinals 1-0. the giants and dodgers were tied and settled the national league pe -- pennant. after the giants won, they brought the world series to san francisco . >> you can leave it at that after all these years there's hardly a day goes by especially when i'm out and about that one don't bring up that line drive that i hit to bobby richardson. >> reporter: with that in mind you can see why the 2010 giants will always have a special place in mccubbies hard. >> i would like to think they did it for me because like i said i didn't get

i'm willie geist. this is "way too early." hurricane sandy, a massive category 1 storm on a collision course with two other storms. expected to hook west of it taking aim at the northeast coast leaving tense of millions of people hours to prepare. the entire new york city transit system is shut down. schools closed along with those in baltimore, boston, washington, d.c. thousands have canceled flights and commuter trains going nowhere. there's eight days until the presidential election. president obama and mitt romney being forced to change plans as the storm approaches. more on that in just a moment. first, lets ae go right to bill karins for the very latest on this hurricane. bill . >>> good morning to you, willie. new update from the national hurricane center. there was zero good news spread by them. the storm has increased in intensity a little bit. now we're looking at possibly 80 to 90 mile per hour landfall. maybe the storm surge could be a little bit worse. this is not what anyone wanted to hear. the winds are now the

people kept asking are you going to write after willie?> it would seem like a comedown to write about some other guy. >> in the case of willie nelson yes, the only thing bigger in texas than willie nelson was the dallas cowboys. the light went on above my head and said let's go drill down deep and go see what we can find. >> is that really the origin of this book? is that what happened? >> i just accepted the role of guest curator at the bob bullock museum to curate on football. >> i was looking for a book. knew there wasn't a music person. it got me off from doing music as a way to understand culture and use sports. high school football is one way. you want to understand texas and texans. six-man, 5a, it doesn't matter. you will learn about who texans are as a people. if you want to see the pinnacle of texans' expression as farras what sports means to them, the dallas cowboys, that blue star with the white border is a brand that is globally known, and just right behind coca-cola. that is some kind of brilliance to have that blue star inst

willie? >> all right, thanks. we heard new jersey governor chris christie say yesterday the jersey shore of my youth is no more. al mentioned seaside heights. that's where nbc's lester holt is for us this morning. what are you seeing today? >> reporter: i'm in point pleasant beach not far away but seeing lots of what al is seeing, lots and lots of damage. this is some of what president obama will likely see on his tour here today. i'm standing at a restaurant in a beachside motel, and i'm standing in sand. it's got to be three or four feet, think about it. this is the breakfast counter right here. on a typical morning like this people would be in here enjoying a cup of coffee, breakfast, maybe watching you guys on tv and checking out the view. by the way, i stayed at this hotel last night, breakfast not included and certainly not power either, but the bed was comfortable. let me show you out here. the sand was swept in by the surge. it goes in block after block after block here. there are homes, vacation homes. th

. >> and i'm willie geist in this morning for matt. the coldest weather of the season so far has folks out on the plaza, as you can see, bundled up. right now the temperature on a columbus day morning 44 degrees. down to 42 overnight. i guess it's fall, savannah. >> it is. seemed to happen overnight. on saturday we had a really warm day here in new york, and parts of the midwest is even colder. temperatures hovering around freezing places like detroit, chicago, oklahoma city. we'll get more on the forecast straight ahead. >>> also, president obama hits up a star-studded campaign fund-raiser poking a little fun at his debate performance last week. we'll tell you what he had to say and look ahead to this week's big vice presidential debate. >>> and we'll meet the creator of a blog who mocks parents who fill their twitter and facebook updates with tweets about their kids. is it too mean-spirited? we'll ask her about that. >>> and check out this massive pile-up at a nascar race this season. this all happened on the final lap. more on that

his name is willie geist. really, so happy baby. [ applause ] >> so happy. >> we want to officially welcome you. come on in. >> what is that? >> bourbon. it is already 10. i'm a little late. >> that's for you. >> that is a tumbler of wine. >> that 9:00 hour is a tough one. >> wow, that's heavy. >> this going to be part of your 9:00 ritual? >> you going to steam all our thunder or -- >> take the example you set and move the drinking back an hour. lay that out there jim bell doesn't know. >> how in the world did they rope you in? the whole world wanted the big willie. my gosh? how do you say no to the "today" show. and i shouldn't say this on tv but they offered me your job. >> i have been hanging by a thread since i got here. >> we want to show your official announcement because we took -- >> a bridge. >> let's listen to willie's official announcement. >> we have some very exciting family news here. because after years of speculation, willie geist, who you know from "morning joe" and "way too early" over on msn

she has a crush on willie.an islands. you will sail like a diva, yo go pu puerto rico. >> we have a couple other fans in the studio, they were at this great event that we had, and we're so glad that you waved to the folks at home. >>> and she lost half of her body weight. after your local news. and jason kennedy is here with the latest hollywood buzz. sfx: doorbell i'm here to snake the drain. i'm here to flush the pipe. vo: liquid plumr double impact has a long snake that reaches deep in the pipe to grab the toughest clogs, and a powerful gel to finish off the rest. baby. liquid plumr double impact. yep...doh. [ boy ] slurpably fun and a good source of calcium. dads who get it, get go-gurt. turn to senokot-s tablets. senokot-s has a natural vegetable laxative ingredient plus the comfort of a stool softener for gentle, overnight relief of occasional constipation. go to senokot-s.com for savings. >>> we're back with today's buzz, recapping the news you might have missed from this week. we'll have a lot of storie

i'm willie geist. this is "way too early." sandy slammed into the jersey shore with winds 80 miles per hour. more in some places, bringing with it an overwhelming storm surge. the associated press reports at least 16 deaths are now being blamed on sandy across seven states. the combination of floodwaters and loss of tractor-trailer kele emergency at langone medical center, forced to evacuate hundreds of patients including infants from the neo-natal intensive care unit after backup power failed. more on that incredible story in just a moment. first, let's go up to bill karins for the very latest on this storm. bill, where are we right now? >> we're about 95% done with all the damage that this storm has produced. and, again, the majority of it was last night at about 8:00 p.m. as we had the high tide cycles right along the jersey coast. of course, with those gusty hurricane-force winds that we dealt with all yesterday afternoon and evening. but i still have concerns this morning. we have the next high tide cycle approaching area

welcome to the willis report. i am gerri willis. it is the running mates's turn to square off. the first and only vice-presidential debate tonight in kentucky. joe biden facing an uphill battle to turn around a democrat's campaign before the clock runs out and make up for president obama's dismal performance. with more on this neil cavuto from danville, ky starting at 8:00 eastern. there is usually usually this much pressure on vice-presidential debate? is it higher this time around because of performance by obama? lou: that has heightened interest in it. whether -- with the sarah palin debate, that was a nexus of seventy million viewers. and so much interest in her at the time. you are quite right. the pressure is on the vice president here to pull one out. the president performed well. this might not be the heated then you for that. this is a table we will be arguing over. and italian-american, makes no difference to us. the fact of the matter is it does psychologically slow you down. you are not inclined to be as aggressive or hostile which is one of the reasons dick cheney

. >> i'm willie geist in this morning for matt. more on those new poll numbers and tonight's final presidential debate here at lynn university in boca raton. they will do that on the stage behind me here, that in just a moment. first, savannah, your heart goes out to the victims of the mass shooting in suburban milwaukee. >> the terrible story, willey. the alleged shooter now identified as 45-year-old radcliffe haughton. police say he opened fire at a busy salon on sunday morning, killing three people and wounding four others. he then turned the gun on himself. haughton's wife worked at the spa and had just recently been granted a restraining order against her husband. we are going to get the very latest on this investigation straight ahead. >>> also this morning, a little encouraging news for drivers. gas prices starting to creep lower a little bit and could plummet by about 50 cents, we are told now, by thanksgiving. we will let you know why a little bit later. >>> all right, willie. speaking of a big plunge, we have some dramati

>> well, let me be careful here, willie.e the job i used to have and don't have access to the type of intelligence that people do at the white house. let me say this about susan rice. nobody has been a better public servant in this administration than susan rice. i have no doubt that what susan rice said was exactly the intelligence assessments she was provided by the intelligence community in order to prepare for those appearances. nobody wants to get to the bottom of this more than the obama administration and the white house. we need to make sure that we're doing everything we can to protect our consulates and our missions across the world. we need to demand that governments make sure they protect the people that we have serving in those, and we need to get to the bottom of this. >> i understand, robert, you're not in the white house technically at this point, but obviously you talked to the president. has the position evolved and the white house believe that it was not a spontaneous attack that led to the death of the am

willie, voters we met are just anxious to see this over. willie? >> kelly o'donnell, thanks so much. it is amazing, a small pocket of voters, not just in the state of ohio but also florida, colorado will decide who will become the next president of the united states. kelly, thanks so much. here is savannah. >>> heavyweights jon stewart and bill o'reilly have a lot to say about the election. over the weekend they squared off in an online debate. >> reporter: organizers called it the rumble in the air conditioned auditorium. for 90 minutes, jon stewart and bill o'reilly traded jabs over the serious, substantive, much of the night was spent on silliness. in one corner, comedy central's disputed, albeit vertically challenged jon stewart. >> the altitude is rough there. >> reporter: the face of fox news took on some props. >> adios, sayonara, aloha, it is boring. >> my friend bill o'reilly is completely full of [bleep]. >> how did two personalities such as yourself, who are almost polar opposites, share willingness to come together when congress can't.

so willie, what's the line?ly to hear all the gloom and doom talk, to hear about how poorly the president did in the first debate. and i think the president will admit he did poorly in the first debate. but to hear the sky is falling, that's what you heard throughout the fall of 2007. he was terrible at debates, he wasn't punching back hard enough, he wasn't tough enough to be president of the united states and somehow he managed to become president of the united states. >> president of the united states. >> is history going to repeat itself again tonight? >> look, i think you're going to see an exceptionally strong debate performance from the president. he'll be energetic. we'll talk about as you all have been talking about on the set. you know, not just the last four years, but what the agenda is for the future and how we continue to move our country and economy forward, strengthening it for the middle class. i think that's what you'll hear tonight from the president. >> hey, chuck, mark haleprin had a map out

. >> good morning, i'm willie geist. this is "way the show that's looking to turn their season around this morning. i'm glad you're up with us watching on msnbc or listening live on radio. you can e-us as always on msnbc.com or tweet me at willie geist or do what arian faster does and text awake followed by a response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this tuesday, october 9th. a lot going on including the imf warning of a dip back into another global recession. we'll have a live report from london. plus, the obama campaign is getting a lot of mileage out of big bird. we'll show you their video from sesame street. first, let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock. we begin with the race for the white house. new post debate polling shows the race tightening now with four weeks to go. a new pugh research center survey showing mitt romney leading president obama 49-45 in a national head-to-head matchup. that's among likely voters, peopl

holy cow. >> wow, that's incredible. >> willie is so good, i just kind of sit there and willie -- oh,lot of fun. >> we do it right there off pensacola beach. it's a lot of fun. >> it is a blast. >> let's go to politico, our friend jonathan martin with a look at the "playbook." hey, jonathan. >> hey, willie. >> you guys are writing this morning about the big three, the three states that are going to determine this race. we talked about your battleground polling at the top of the show. we're talking ohio, florida and virginia. how does it shake out there? >> yeah, i track both the travel and the spending, willie, from the last two weeks. and that's the best measure that we have of what the campaigns are focusing on, where the candidates are going, where they're spending their money. and overwhelmingly, it's on those three states. if you look at just romney's schedule alone, over the last two weeks, he's been to those three states, he's had 15 events in those three states. and the other six battleground states, he's had a total of just three events. and financially both the republican su

willis and ryan did a great job running the ball and opened up passing lanes.nk the team is maturing and hopefully, we will keep it going. >> michele: you mentioned demaryius thomas standing next to you. you're getting in a groove with all of your receivers. >> these guys are very talented. the more situations we are in the more we should improve. demaryius played great tonight and sure am proud of him. >> michele: congratulations. >> thank you. >> michele: the receivers played a very good game tonight, demaryius. as peyton said you two seem to be communicating better and getting on the same page. how far are you guys come in these seven weeks? >> we get better and better every week. you know, i just feel like the repetition the better you get and tonight, you know, we had had a couple of -- they were trying to stop the run the whole game. we had some wide open lanes for our receivers, so, you know, that's going to help us out more, more one-on-one, one-on-one. >> michele: you have mentioned that at practice peyton will coach you as though you're in kindergarte

willie? will you come to the door, sir? >> willie, willie, you want to talk to a doctor?ing spanish ] >> the ninth floor of the miami-dade pretrial detention center is a world unto itself. as part of the psychiatric unit, these cells are reserved for inmates with serious mental problems. >> sir, you all right? >> dr. joseph poitier is the jail's chief psychiatrist. he's worked at miami-dade for the past ten years. >> jails have, in effect, become mental institutions. i would say that 20% of those who are incarcerated have a mental illness. a large part suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression, severe forms of mental illness. >> the mentally ill is a very serious problem within correctional facilities today. unfortunately, there's a growing trend. a lot of the mental state hospitals have closed down and the only options to the police agencies are to bring them to the jails. that's a problem for us because those inmates are a lot more unmanageable than the regular inmate population. >> come on, take your medication. >> while the ultimate goal of the staff

willis and ryan did a great job running the ball and opened up passing lanes. i think the team is maturing and hopefully, we will keep it going. >> michele: you mentioned demaryius thomas standing next to you. you're getting in a groove with all of your receivers. >> these guys are very talented. the more situations we are in the more we should improve. demaryius played great tonight and sure am proud of him. >> michele: congratulations. >> thank you. >> michele: the receivers played a very good game tonight, demaryius. as peyton said you two seem to be communicating better and getting on the same page. how far are you guys come in these seven weeks? >> we get better and better every week. you know, i just feel like the repetition the better you get and tonight, you know, we had had a couple of -- they were trying to stop the run the whole game. we had some wide open lanes for our receivers, so, you know, that's going to help us out more, more one-on-one, one-on-one. >> michele: you have mentioned that at practice peyton will coach you as though you're in kinde

good morning, karen. >> reporter: good morning, willie. there are early alarm bells ringing we may see some sort of industrial action if a new contract can't be agreed. put forward by boeing yesterday, basically would have seen a 3.5% increase in pay down from the 5% that engineers and technicians currently enjoy was actually rejected by those workers. so back to the negotiating table. two schools of thoughts are playing out here as to whether boeing will just have to come up with more generous terms. on the other side, because we know that boeing needs these workers, it's got a backlog of orders about 4,057 orders sitting there in the wings. it also needs some of these engineers who need design specifications around one of its popular models, the 777, but it also needs help from engineers to repair one of its other aircraft, the 787. at the same time, we know the manufacturing sector has been somewhat depressed. the latest figures we had out yesterday showed a glimmer of hope in the manufacturing sector in the states, but still, the emplo

. >> we have the chairman of the republican party and willie brown in studio. it's going to to be a lively discussion. >> the sports front as well. we're looking at that. we have the 49ers in town. it's pretty busy. the top of the news, president obama and mitt romney are g earing up for their second debate. >> mr. obama is preparing in virginia while mitt romney plans to practice in boston. we have the latest on the race. >> reporter: paul ryan tailgated with football fans in ohio while mitt romney rallied supporters. the team fanned out across the key battleground states. >> if we get ohio, we'll take back america. >> reporter: the stakes are h igh, no republican has won the white house without a victory in ohio. at a rally in port smith, he says he sees the enthusiasm g rowing. >> i will get good jobs for every american. >> reporter: they say it's the number one issue in the selection. >> i bet on workers and three years later, that bet is paying off in a big way. the decision to bail out saves jobs. together creating 1/4 of a million new jobs. >> he arrived

>> coming up, how well do you handle awkward situations, willie?> what about dorky co-hosts, how do you handle that? >> learning on the job. >> that after commercial. >> a quiz after this. ♪ every little thing has meaning ♪ ♪ i woke up to a light bulb on ♪ every little thing is possible now ♪ [ female announcer ] we've added a touch of philadelphia cream cheese to our kraft natural cheese to make it creamier so whatever you make isn't just good, it's amazing. ♪ ...is amazing with the love that i found ♪ ♪ follow the wings. with the love that i found ♪ vo: for cold and flu season, honey, don't use your sleeve. there's clorox bleach. onof chocolate lovers from the thmelting point of chocolate. so when you take hershey's chocolate and add bubbles, it deliciously melts the moment you take a bite. hershey's air delight. it just might make you melt. online outfit piccolo headphones buy now broadway show megapixels place to sleep little roadster war and peace deep sea diving ninja app hipster glasses 5% cash back sign up to get 5% everywhere online throug

gerri willis has the night off. concerns over the health of our nation's economy and doubling fiscal cliff. the headlineein today's financial times read you as third quarter results raise fresh economic fears. shares of companies warn of a global demand. the dow jones industrial average plummeting 2% over the past week, the worst drop since june. commodities taking a hit. gold falling below $1,700 an ounce. the price of oil has dropped almost 7 percent since last week. of course, the fed. today said it will leave interest rates unchanged and will continue qe3, pumping money or air, wherever you want to college, into the economy. joining us on what he makes all this harvard economist jeff myers. thank you for being here. they did basically change nothing in the fed report today it except for two things. change in language in the inflation. they said that the inflation has ticked up because of energy prices and the one that the global markets pose some downside risk. what do you make of all that? >> i think on the inf

gerri willis is here. we have seen the money coming out of equities mutual funds like somebody opened a window and threw the cash out. >> you would think this would happen after 2008, 2009 when they did not have any money and was worried about thh economy broadly. but no, this thing is gaining momentum, not stopping. yesterday we had the former sec chairman on. he had the longest term as head of the sec, known as an individual investor's chairman. he said look, people see what is going on with insider trading, what is going on with the flash crash and they just don't trust this market. look at these numbers, 138 billion of your dollars coming out of the market since 2009. that is money that would be in stocks. the proportion of americans holding stock mutual funds in 2001 was 53%. 2011, 46%. only 50% of americans say they have trust in the stock market. this is a tragedy, something we need to think about, participants in the market have to think about and correct. ashley: there is question about integrity.

willie is coming in the room right now. >> willie sort of sauntering in. >> he is. wow! a lot of presidential polls to get to, and we will. >> i tell you what, important ones that really narrow the focus of this race. >> right. first we're going to start with the aftermath of sandy. the united states pledging quick relief for the millions of victims of the hurricanes. today president obama is scheduling to arrive in atlantic city to survey the damage alongside governor chris christie. this morning the associated press reports the storm killed at least 50 people. there are more than 8.2 million households still without power across 17 states. and many of the outages could last beyond election day. between damage to property and the economy, the total impact expected to reach a staggering $50 billion. the damage is perhaps nowhere worse than the coastline of new jersey where sandy came ashore laying waste to an amusement park and historic boardwalk at seaside heights. as for the airports, jfk, newark, they're expected to resume limited service this morning. the same cannot

what is that, willie? >> it's fair to call it the mexican scarf. >> willie and i both were thinking about wearing that yesterday, but we were afraid we'd come to the set wearing the same thing. >> yes. maybe mark feels the need to distract this morning. >> distracting. let's see what al hunt is wearing this morning. >> washington executive -- oh -- of bloomberg news, al hunt. oh, my goodness. and from the site of last night's debate in zanvilldanvil kentucky, mark halperin. >> i think i speak for everybody when i say this morning we are all washington senators. >> we are. >> i'm still not going to call them the nats. we had a debate, but willie, really quickly last night, some more great baseball. >> holy cow. >> can you believe that? >> can you see it on my face, when you invest that much time in a game, you have to stay up late and see what happens. >> what time was that over? >> about midnight. >> i came home, vice presidential debate on dvr, yankees live, it was a long night. the yankees lost extra inn

willie? >> all right, al. thank you. it's time for "today's professionals" where we tackle the hottest headlines making news. our panel of pros, star jones, esquire, donny deutsch and dr. nancy snyderman. >> magic moment, your first professionals. >> my maiden voyage. i'll be candy crowley and try to keep you guys online. let's start with the debate last night. people are calling it this morning a little bit contentious and feisty, perhaps too much so for some people. let's watch a little clip of some of the back and forth last night. >> you'll get your chance in a moment. i'm still speaking. >> and the suggestion that anybody on my team, whether the secretary of state, our u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. >> that wasn't even the worst of it, star. what's your opinion about what you saw last night? is debate etiquette dead? physically they were very close it each other. going almost nose to nose >> i don't like all that alpha male

will see you back from new york tomorrow, the willis report is coming up next. >> with just two weeks until election day, president obama unveils hissbankrup blueprint fr america, welcome to willis report. gerri: i'm jerry willis, president obama and mitt romney back on the campaign trail where president is blasting romney's foreign policy, wrong and reckless but, one republican senator said it is obama's foreign aid that needs to be looked at. rand paul of kentucky with more, welcome back, so, you have been talking about foreign aid for a long time, now you put your money where your mouth it, tell us about the ads. >> we're running ads in west virginia, ohio, florida, missouri, and we're contemplating going into montana and pennsylvania next. letting people know that their senator continue to vote to send aid to countries that are burning our flag and not protecting our embassy, i think that most americans would be appalled to know this. gerri: it is not chump change, pakistan $2 .1 billion, egypt $ 1.6, libya 13.1. should we yank the money from the countries and what is the bases fo

hi, willie. >> and willie geist is here as well. willie, you know, when presidential campaigns are coming down to the final stretch, we all know who they go to, right? >> right. >> how do you set the shot up, right? >> exactly. >> what's the angle? what's the image? and who do you go to? you go to tv's own willie geist, right? >> you do. >> let me ask you, willie, what were you thinking yesterday when you decided i'm going to put the president of the united states down in some corn. >> by a hay bale. >> with bales of hay all around to make brian williams look like he's one of the country bears in country bear jamboree. what's going on there? >> i guess the story can be told now, brian did call me. >> okay. >> yesterday about noon. >> right. >> said geist, what do we go with? and i said, you're going to want to get yourself some bales of hay because it's just two guys in blue suits hanging out on the farm. >> it's like nixon walking, you know, along the pacific coastline in his wing tips. >> ribozo. >> or you doing a three-hour show

what do you get, i will willie?ning us now to break down week four, the founder of profootballtalk.com, mike florio. >> good to be back. when rex ryan apologizes in advance for his language, you expect so much more. >> he was pretty composed, i thought. so sanchez throws for 103 yards, no touchdowns, an interception. if you watched the game, he's throwing bounce passes to open receivers. how do you stay with him if you're ryan? >> you can't. they're going to stay with him another week, and it doesn't get any better because the texans come to down, they're undefeated. but at some point you have to think about making a change. it's not tim tebow, he doesn't look much better. i don't know if that gets any better between losing darrelle revis yesterday, santonio holmes yesterday, this has a recipe for a complete implosion, 4-12 type of a season, even though they're 2-2. >> except you haven't played at the tebow in the regular season. you look at what he did for the broncos last year in the regular season, don't you give

welcome to "the willis report." ♪ hello, everybody. i'm gerri willis.u believe the jobs numbers released today? a huge drop in unemployment rates to 7.8%. a look at that. nearly 1 million people entering the workforce in just one month. today, some of the business community calling those numbers completely fake, deliberately distorted to make president obama look good before the election. the obama administration firing back calling such charges ludicrous. what is the real story? joining me now, former white house chief economist and labor department commissioner keith hall, moody's chief economist, john lonski, and carried from call bomb capital management. welcome to you all. very curious. nearly a half percent move in the an employment rate on just 114,000 jobs growth in the month surprising to jack welch, former ceo of ge. here is what he said. >> well, and the last two months we have gone from 83-81. now we are going to 7.8% by changing the numbers assumptions. like. i don't know if -- what the right number is. i tell you, these numbers don't smell

welcome to "the willis report." ♪ gerri: hello, everybody. i'm gerri willis. the election 12 days away, president obama was out hawking his new plan to its use the economy. since it is only a 20-page pamphlet it is hard to keep track of. >> my plan. [laughter] i found my plan. here is. gerri: no surprise there. no plan. if it is obama's last-minute ploy to distract voters that he has dropped the ball on the economy. obama can count on one of them and that is his own. the president voting early in his hometown of chicago the first time ever for a sitting president. my next guest is making sure he is not sitting in the white house for long. joining me now, former governor of new hampshire and senior adviser to the romney campaign. good to have you here, governor. appreciate your time. if the stock about the economy. i'm sorry? >> happy thursday. gerri: said the thursday to you as well. let's talk about the economy. i read this plan, and four of the president's top five points are points that governor romney made in his five. plant. it almost picks up the languag

welcome to "the willis report." gerri: hello, everybody i'm gerri willis. high-stakes of the first debate has candidates leaving. nothing to chance. president obama and governor romney racing to get in last minute prep before going face-to-face first debate next wednesday in denver that is. what should we expect? let's ask bill kristol, editor of "the weekly standard" and byron york, chief political correspondent for the "washington examiner". welcome to you both. byron, i'll start with you. what does romney have to do to show up roads in here. even voters say they don't expect him to win? >> well the thing, he has to do the same thing he had to do all along which present himself as a good alternative to the president who will take the country in a different direction than the president and can point out the numerous flaws in the president's record. i mean, i wonder whether romney has actually been preparing too much. he has been doing enormous amount of this stuff. he did a unabout much of debates in the republican primaries. it got to where he was quite s

"the willis report" is coming up next. you guys are the best. gerri: hello, everybody, i am gerri willis for the candidates are prepping for the first debate just over 24 hours from now. if you look at the headlines, it looks like the media is already calling president obama the winner. even before he and mitt romney were on stage. joining me now is the democratic strategist, editor for the national review. i can't think of two people better to talk about this issue. i going to start with you. the first debate is already over. his style, president obama, in his gop challenger needs to shine in the debate. what do you say? >> well, so much for the expectations game. the media doesn't pick winners, voters pick winners. that is why we have elections. they are smart enough to understand opinions and facts and all of that. they are really good at filtering it out. after all the early voting that is done, 9:00 o'clock on the west coast, it is the voters that have the last say and that is the way it should be. gerri: okay, rich, the public says that 61

"the willis report" is coming up next. gerri: hello, everybody. i am gerri willis. last-minute press for president obama and mitt romney before they take the stage in a town hall style debate tomorrow night. whhle romney will try to give an encore performance and build on his momentum, the obama campaign promising a firm but respectful president. what will this be? another broken promise by obama? the editor of the national review. welcome to you both, great to have both of you here. i want to start with you, rich. this town hall style format may well help one candidate than the other. what do you say? speak of this base wants obama to come out reading fire. not that it worked very well for joe biden, but that is difficult to do with ordinary people asking questions presumably about their own lives. the trick is connecting with those people. it is tough to do that when you spent a lot of time making ground -- and the other guy. gerri: to you, david axelrod outlined what the president is going to try and do, this is what he said the president's strategy is. >> he's g

i'm willie geist. we are live for the next two days from rack in boca raton, florida. let me anticipate your clever tweets. rack is owned by a man named gary rack. no, it's he not a hooters knockoff. we can all move along together. along with these brave souls here who are joining me at this ungodly hour, a big night in boca. just 15 days out from the big day. florida and its 29 electoral votes critical for this election as they always are. we've got some new nbc wall street journal polling that captures the air tight state of this race. we will talk live in a moment to the head of the council on foreign relations, richard hoff, about what he'd like answered. we begin life at 5:30 a.m. boca time where the polls stand 15 days until the votes are cast. the new nbc wall street journal poll has this race dead even among likely voters. 47-47. before the debate season began in early september, the president held a five point lead. among women voters the president's lead shrinking down to eight points. the smallest lead he's had with women all year in this nbc poll. among men

gay lord perry, orlando si pirra, jaun, lily misconnie, and willy mays. [cheers and applause] we also want to acknowledge congresswoman nancy pelosi along with her husband. thank you so much for being here. we know how busy you with the election just a few days away so a round of applause for all of our vip and special guests. and now at this time we would also like to thank the city and county of san francisco and our community partners. we must acknowledge them. can't do it without them. bank of america, dignity health, miller coors, diamond foods, virgin america, pg&e, and sales force to help to make this civic celebration possible. we thank you. and of course we must recognize the giants broadcast partner sports bay area that brings sports to our giants fans all season long and made it possible for this to be watched all over northern california. all right. are you ready now? we can really get it started. [cheers and applause] . i said are you ready? [cheers and applause] it is my pleasure now to introduce two members of the best broadcast team in bas

i'm willie geist and this is "way too early," the show ben benched before last night's game. i'm glad you're up with us watching or listening on sirius xm radio. e-mail at waytooearly @msnbc.com or text the word awake followed by your response to 622639. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this thursday, october the 18th. a lot to tell you about including the boss. bruce springsteen weighing in publicly on this presidential race. plus, another jersey boy, jon stewart celebrating the return of president obama at the debate the other night. >>> first to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. a 21-year-old college student accused of trying to detonate a van carrying what he believed were explosives next to the federal reserve building in manhattan. quazi nafis is from bangladesh. authorities say he came to the u.s. on a student visa in january with the purpose of launching a terrorist attack and took classes in cybersecurity before trying to contact what he thought were al qaeda operatives. turns out those contacts were undercover agents with