Joe is doing so bad he may come in third to drunk antisemitic times square elmo. Good morning. What . I cant believe that rat on a stick only gets 23 . Rounded down to the nearest 23 . Can we zoom in on willies im worried. This will be horrible. Its the 5th. We have to make it to the 30th. Ew you will look like that guy on the hang over. Zach galifianakis . Id take that. Patchy. Very cute. Like preadolescent. Thank you. Was we have the authors of double down. Theyre big. I thought they would be too big for us. Today is the day. Mark halperin and National Editor and msnbc Political Editor john heilman. New glasses. Just paying attention. Oh, my john meechums book thomas jefferson, the art of power is out in paperback. And in washington, White House Correspondent thank god for the associated press, julie pace. Good to have you. So you guys arent number one with a bullet yet, but you are close. Right . I havent checked the amazon rating. You said it was killing jesus. Krauthammer, man, hes selling books. Hes doing well. I went to a bookstore. Elm street bookstore. Doing an vent in a week or two. They said Charles Krauthammer is kicking it, man. For me, hes always bipartiseeno and i cant stand you guys im glad hes doing well. Conservatives sell a lot of books. With krauthammer its thoughtful conservativism. A lot of books out there arent thoughtful. This is rewarding that conservatives are coming out of their homes and going to bookstores and buying an intelligent conservative book like krauthammers. Are you saying conservatives are too pale owe litic for ebooks what the heck . Were more communal. We love people. We love americans. We love walking down the street, you know, and just hugging people and petting dogs. Liberals will stay in their basements eating chee tos and order on amazon. Com. Double down. And double down. Living in the 21st accept. There are two realms conservatives dominated. Too bad the websites are stuck in 1847. Conservatives dominated on hardcover books and talk radio. There are liberal successes but for whatever reasons conservatives have done a lot better in those areas. Its hard to do political books that are neutral and objective and do well. You guys have done it before, done it again. Its exciting. Got a love letter to double down from a difficult book critic. Playing the game with an insider look t at the players. The art section of the New York Times. Really . Shes tough. Wow, guys. Why do you look so grumpy. Just gratified. We have a lot to get to. With head shots. Thats exciting. Look at this. When they review my books its so ugly they not only insult me, they insult everybody within a square mile of me. Look how tough. I know. We have news to get to, joe. I said mannix yesterday. Its more steve lord. How do you describe the angle of pi head . Contorted and your hair is parted down the middle. Looks like a Young Raymond burr. He does. Today is election day. We have important elections here. Decision day in two states. Voters selecting their next governor. Both races could set the tone for the 2014 midterms and the 2016 president ial race. Well start in virginia where the latest quinnipiac poll shows Terry Mcauliffe ahead of Ken Cuccinelli by six points. Last month it was 12. Cuccinelli said hes optimistic about pulling off the upset. Senator marco rubio helped him deliver a final pitch putting the focus squarely on banl. I know tomorrow night the people of virginia will send a clear message to our country and the Democratic Party. Absolutely. Yeah we dont want obama care. Nope. We dont want more big government. No im scared to death of what obama care is doing to virgin n virginians. Terry mcauliffe is scared of what its doing to him. [ cheers ] Vice President joe biden hit the trail saying the election is a chance to push back against extreme ideology. I think the motto of the tea party should be back to the future. [ laughter ] no, really. Think about it. These guys are the antithesis of change and progress. Everything they talk about without exaggeration is about turning back what the rest of the country and the world thinks is progress. Its hard to fathom this day being led by a man who rejects all that the new thinking stands for. Some are pointing out that the Vice President didnt mention president obama nor the Affordable Care act during his entire speech. Smart move. The president campaigned for mcauliffe a day earlier. Julie pace, weigh in on the race. Speaking of biden i dont think you want to talk about obama care when youre tying to get a democrat elected. That was a smart move. Democrats feel good about what they are seeing in virginia now. Terry is hardly a perfect candidate. There are draw backs in having be the nominee. But either seeing money raised for democrats. He built support in the state, learned lessons from his last run for governor. For democrats looking forward there was concern that obama was maybe able to win because hes a unique candidate and can appeal to certain groups democrats cant appeal to. Democrats are looking and saying maybe the obama model can be applicable for the future. So either of you guys share my skepticism in the polls that show eight, nine, ten points . I say it only because virginia sl Terry Mcauliffe doesnt fit tightly in virginia. Cuccinelli said a lot puts him outside the main stream of virginia voters. I find it hard to believe terry will win by five, six, seven, eight points. You will get in a race like that in a competitive state and its called natural tightening. The margins wont stay big. What keeps terry with a big enough cushion is the gender gap. The big difference between Chris Christies effort in a bluer state in new jersey and cuccinelli in virginia is christie has solved to a large extent the female issue though his opponent is a woman. Hes done a better job of the kind of obama voters cuccinelli hasnt reached Younger Voters and minority voters. Heres the question. Both candidates are pro life. Exactly. In new jersey, pro life Chris Christie has a massive gender gap except the women are on his side. In a state thats less pro life than virginia. Whats the difference between cuccinelli and tim kaine was personally pro life and was able to win in virginia, too. There are ways of being prolife and not affecting large portions of the female electorate. Ken cuccinelli has not pulled it off. Chris christie has. Terry is not what one would call a right fit candidate for the old virginia. One of the things thats true about virginia is its changed a lot. There is a reason barack obama was able to win in 2008 and 2012. There are transient voters, young, hispanic voters there. The state profile is different than it was even ten years ago. It puts him in the position mark said because of the financial vanl hes had in a position to win. I dont ting hell win by eight points. Yeah. Hes going to end up closer to three or four. It looks like he was going to win. So much of politics has to do with personal style. Bob mcdonald, every bit as conservative as cuccinelli. Every bit as conservative. And the guy won by, what, 20 points . The year after barack obama had his massive victory. Even before all the obama care dustup of 2010. I mean, he just wiped the democrats out. So youve got to look at Chris Christie and bob mcdonald. There are ways to win in these purpleblue states. But youve got to make people think i guess you are focused on jobs first, not ideology. I dont think cuccinelli has done it. Talk b about personal style. Mark mentioned it with Chris Christie in new jersey. If you look at from the last election to how hes polling with africanamerican voters, he got no africanamerican voters the first time. Hes not going to win that but hes up to a significant percentage of the population. Same with latino voters. Hes going beyond his issues which endares him to voters who normally wouldnt aline with him, including women. If he can show by winning tonight, as we presume he will, that he can bring with him voters ta a lot of republicans in a lot of states write off, that sends a huge message not just in new jersey but nationally. Hes not afraid of bonding with other groups. In new jersey the polls shows the not a question if republican Chris Christie will win reelection but how much. A poll finds christie leading Barbara Buono by 20 points. A rutgers poll has him in the lead 66 to 30 . If the margins hold christie will be the first republican to win more than 50 of the vote since 1988. The New York Times reports democrats are doing everything in their power to prevent christie from getting a landslide victory. 35 million has been spent by outside groups during the new jersey election, the highest amount in any state ever with the exception of california. Why waste that money . They are not using it to stop governor christie. They are trying to control the legislature which they can do with big targeted money in those districts. The last time the Democratic Party failed to stop a governor who had president ial aspirations from a big reelection victory, george bush, huge mistake on the Democratic Party. They ran a weak candidate, didnt do damage to him and they got elected president. If governor christie is like the president in three years, in large part it will owe to the fact that they have done no damage to him in the race. Yesterday, governor christie spoke about how this election will stand out from others. You watch what will happen tomorrow. I absolutely believe that what you are going to see is something that hasnt happened in this state . A generation. I had all kinds of folks whispering in my ear today. [ whispering ] im a democrat. Dont tell anybody. Im voting for you. [ applause ] all right. Yesterday, christie downplayed a confrontation he had with a Public School teacher saying her side of the exchange was, quote, grossly inaccurate. The teacher approached the governor asking why he believes new jersey Public Schools are failure factories. She said christie cut her off saying, by her account, what do you want . Im tired of you people. Christie denies that. He says, quote, what i said was its never enough for you people. No matter how much money i give its never enough for you people. John meechum we have a picture of Chris Christie. Its not quite Ronald Reagan standing in front of the statue of liberty. T. J. , if you could put it up. Again. I was referencing the picture you put up. Good. Not exactly Ronald Reagan in front of the statue of Liberty Labor day weekend. Close. But thats just Chris Christie. The question everybody will be asking tomorrow morning is whether his style of new jersey translates to iowa, new hampshire, South Carolina and florida. Its a little bit more jersey shore than newt rockney. The questions are can a center right republican like christie survive the primaries in 2016 and take the party back or control the further right. The other story i think will be the clintons. The virginia victory b will be seen as a victory for the clinton wing because of mcauliffes long time association. You were showing the images there. The irony for obama is hes the guy who passes health care. The clintons dont. The clintons seem to be the political winners. Very, very interesting. Really. One more race to get to. This is a big one. Its viewed as a battle that will shape the future direction of the Republican Party. Todays special election runoff in alabamas first congressional district. Former state senator Brendan Byrne is squaring off against dean you dean young, a tea party businessman. Many are backing byrne including the chamber of commerce who spent nearly 200,000 on the race. Young has praised the tea party, making it clear how he intends to legislate. At a debate last month he said, quote, if you send me to congress it will be like sending ted cruz to washington. He questions byrnes faith and says he doesnt believe in the bible the way you should believe in the bible. This is an extraordinary race because of how quickly conservative Business People have weighed in. Ricketts who, of course, is a huge contributor to the Republican Party and a very, very conservative guy. He plays a small role in double down. He has piled over 100,000 into Bradley Byrnes campaign because he wants a rock solid conservative but a guy who doesnt want what i thought the National Review was a perfect term. Apocalyptic conservative. He doesnt want an apocalyptic conservative. He wants a conservative that can actually pass legislation. Right. One of the things thats interesting here i think historically is the goldwater movement was driven by small town businessmen who resented the new deal, who resented the interference in the marketplace, the labor laws. And now, interestingly, a couple generations later, really the chambers of commerce and the rotary clubs of the country are the republican establishment. Right. The insurgents who were fighting against eisenhower and were the goldwater guys and became the reagan stalwarts are as uncomfortable with the right as they were with the left. I think its arguable that the center of gravity for republicans is somewhere between cultural conservatives and more radical guys and the rotary club, kiwanis club, chamber of commerce folks who are focused on the bottom line. Tell us more about ricketts. Hes a really, really conservative guy. Hes a really conservative guy. Hes come in to this race to say, enough, we want the pro business conservative pro life guy. Hes not a guy thats traditionally had culture war politics. Hes focused the his super pac was focused on spending. The proposal made to him when he was looking to spend money to defeat obama the proposal made to him by a conservative super pac by some republican consultants was to take on obama over reverend wright. He never approved that proposal. His main focus has always been on fiscal issues. I think in this case hes looking at someone standing up saying i want to bring ted cruz politics to washington. If you want to stop spending in washington, if you want to win as the point has been made, there is a better way to go b about that in terms of practical politics than the ted cruz, as you said, and the National Review said apocalyptic brand of republican. As i said this weekend its like being a cowboys fan and running up the middle on fourth and 31 on your own ten yard line instead of punting. You can say it makes me a man because i will run a fullback trap up the middle. No. Its just stupid tactics if you want to win. We have a lot to get to this morning. The president started clarifying the message on obama care. Thought it was good. That was awful. You thought it was good . That was pathetic. No, no, no. Hes using we instead of i. We have to go now. But we will talk about it. Thats a tease. You think its good . I actually what he did was embarrassing. Coming up on morning joe, chuck todd on what to look for in todays big races and Steve Schmidt will be here. Former chief of staff to president bush andy card and frank bruni explains why Hillary Clintons path to the white house might be tougher than it seems. Up next, the political playbook. Only mike can do that. I love his socks. I would argue mike shouldnt. Just because you can doesnt mean you should. Heres bill with a check on the forecast. I dont think i would even do that by mistake. Good morning. On this election day, very cold in new england. But it will be dry. The troublesome weather in the middle of the country. Heading out the door today dressed just like yesterday. We are very cool. Temperatures are in the 20s from albany to hartford. 33 in boston. Its warmer d. C. To new york. Throughout the next two days heading into the 60s in some cases. Even this afternoon will be warmer from philadelphia south, baltimore and d. C. The middle of the country is where the troublesome weather is. Winter weather will move across the plains. First snow of the season for minneapolis, much of nebraska, sioux falls, south dakota. That snow is just breaking out in rapid city. Its a narrow band but could add up to four inches by tomorrow morning in spots. Also the rain is moving through st. Louis, chicago. Bring the umbrella. A possibility of significant airport delays with a storm moving through the middle of the country. For the east coast it was cold, chilly and now the warm up begins. I started parttime, now im a manager. N. My employer matches my charitable giving. Really. I get bonuses even working parttime. Where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. Healthcare starting under 40 a month. I got education benefits. I work at walmart. Im a pharmacist. Sales associate. I manage produce. I work in logistics. Theres more to walmart than you think. Vo opportunity. Thats the real walmart. They always have. They always will. Thats why you take charge of your future. Your retirement. Ameriprise advisors can help you like theyve helped millions of others. Listening, planning, working one on one. To help you retire your way. With confidence. Thats what Ameriprise Financial does. Thats what they can do with you. Ameriprise financial. More within reach. Time now to take a look at the morning papers. From our parade of papers, the star ledger. Police found the body of a gunman they believe walked into a new jersey mall firing shots at random. Luckily the shots didnt hit anyone though the mall was crowded. It happened at the westfield Garden State Plaza mall. Shots were reported around 9 20 last night as the mall was about to close. As police approached