On november 7th its going to start Getting Better just with the news weve voted for big change. The time for change has come. Theres time for a big change. Romneys rhetoric isnts the only thing that has an odd de va have you quality to it. Governor romney will deliver a policy speech . Iowa on the economy. According to excerpts he will present a few goals that sound obamaesque. Quote but in reality, and be off the stump romneys economic policies couldnt be more of a departure from the current administration. Phil Philip Rucker writes in the Washington Post so where does this slash and burn approach to the federal government leave the country . The cover story in Rolling Stone argues romneys policies not only run counter to those of president obama but will unwind a centurys worth of work to strengthen the American Social compact. Quote on one count governor romney is right this is a big choice eviction and for president obama its not about hope and change. Its about the hope of keeping in place all the change thats already been made. Eric, your story, your magazine. A great piece. The cover of the magazine. Lets talk a little bit about you sat down with the president for this interview and the piece outlines two pretty macro visions for the country. I wonder if you think that choice is clear to voters at this point. Well, i think romney has done his best as the president himself says in the interview to fuzz that up and one of the interesting things when we ask him directly do you think that governor romney has lied to the American People through all his changes of position, what the president said is i think we won the argument and so that they had to change their tack. I think thats an interesting way of looking at it. We huz talking after the first debate when romney did his most abrupt aboutface, but he really said we have the ideas, we have the plan, we won that. It was clear to them their plan wasnt working and they shifted and tried to fuzz it up and look like us. The question is, this has been much discussed today, a comment that president made to the interviewer talking about your daughter, wasnt it, and her wishes for the the and he said he does well with kids because they have a detector for b. S. Ers, the family way of paraphra paraphrasing. Do you think the American Public has that same level of detect n detection . Thats always one of the problems in the election. Its really hard for substance to get lost. Because we chase things like the b. S. Comment, rather than diving into the real differences and the policy debate. I think this election has played out over a long enough time that its really difficult for the Romney Campaign to hide all their predispositions and thats what youre seeing is all these juxtaposition clips you get day after day of where he was on abortion then and now and where he was on taxes then and now, so its very hard over the course of that long a campaign to keep your true self hidden. And its hard to keep your character hidden. One of the things thats clear about romney is he has been all over the map as ted kennedy said in one of his debates with him, my opponent im pro choice my opponent is multiple choice. In the old days we called that flip flopping. Its surprising it hasnt been applied more to governor romney as john kerry. He doesnt have a core and i think people want that. Its about athen tisty. People want to know what youll stand for. Theyll go for if theyre not sure what you stand for is right. Im happy the president used the word were not allowed to say on tv. We really want to. Can you tell, america, we want to use it. We wont. Children, its still safe for you to watch the show for the moment. I think its great. He is drawing a contrast and i think that part of what happened that first debate is we lost fighting barack obama, we lost that man who emerged, especially in the last year, we saw him in 2008, he went away and in the last year since the debt ceiling debacle we saw him. The fact that hes calling him out and using a salty term, maybe that will help with these blue collar white men who apparently are even trending farther against him. I think hes got to do that and i think we also all of us are, its incumbent on us to call out the contrasts. In the last debate i was so disappointed with the media, hes doing a wise thing, moving to the center. Hes lying. Hes lying and not tells us what hell really do and scoring points politically because thats smart to do. I mean its terrible. And i also it comes down to the fact that everyone kind of enjoys the political process and game of the political process but everyones also understands you know what, though, the day after the election, someone has got to govern and so it really matters what their ideas are and what people are thinking about. If you look at the endorsements the president has received from the Salt Lake City tribune or Washington Post or one from colin powell yesterday, it had to do with barack obama the policies of the past four years and what he wants to do in the future but the fact that they have no idea what this other person is. And they have no idea who hes going to bring into the white house with him if he were to end up winning. As we talk about endorsements the new yorker had an extended endorsement of barack obama. Not mitt romney. I want to read an excerpt. I thought they both argued on behalf of the president s record thus far and argued sort of the counter factual option which is, if the key note of Obamas Administration has been Public Investment whether in infrastructure, education or health, the keynote of romneys candiedisy has been private equity. A democracy cannot lay off its failing citizens. It cannot be content to leave any of its citizens behind and not the 47 who romney wishes to fire from the policy. Very strong words. Weve gone back and forth about who mitt romney is and how the campaign portrayed him. A piece in the New York Times saying maybe listen to bill clintons advice about how to portray romney as a severe conservative was a bad idea. Seems like theyre back on the flip flopper this guy has no core message something they bandied about at the earlier stage of the election cycle. After as romney tacked to the center they did they suddenly said actually he has no core. The problem potentially is that to voters would voters voters are happy it if you flip flop their way. Voters would rather they flip flop to them than you disagreed with them. Thats romneys best. Its a close election. Were conflating being a moderate with being a flip flopper. There is a difference when youre talking about bill clinton first on abortion. Like the Obama Campaigns argument is mitt romney is secretly really zealous on abortion, going to go out of his way with executive orders and Everything Else to shut down abortion rights. I think a lot of americans probably look at romneys record which is all over the map and think hes faking it for the right wingers. Maybe and you know, im not sure which way thats going to push voters. I would actually disagree on the abortion thing, i think his statements about who he would appoint to the supreme court, calling to mind scalia and thomas, his choice of paul ryan who has 100 rating in terms of pro life, there is i think now i would have a year ago said his policy positions, you know doesnt matter what he personally is. But i thought the whole point he had no core, right. These are different arguments. But again, i say theres a difference between some guy who will stand in the middle and compromise and strike grand bargains to someone who will go which ever way the wind blows and listen to the loudest voices in the room which is the contention. So much stuff we didnt get to and have to go to break. This is how the show goes sometimes. After the break Abraham Lincoln once said a house divided against itself can not stand. Wonder what great republican would think ability todays gop. Colin powell has voiced his reservations. Im a republican, more moderate mold and thats something of a dying breed, im sorry to say. We will look at the family feud, next on now. Bob. Oh, hey alex. Just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. Great its always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. Wow, your hair looks great. Didnt realize they did photoshop here. Hey, good call on those mugs. Cant let em see what youre drinking. You know, im glad were both running a nice, clean race. No need to get nasty. Heres your honk if you had an affair with taylor yard sign. Looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. Now save 50 on banners. We dont let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. So if youre one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day. Block the acid with prilosec otc and dont get heartburn in the first place [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. [ male announcer ] its time for medicare open enrollment. Are you ready . Time to compare plans and see whats new. You dont have to make changes, but its good to look. Maybe you can find better coverage, save money, or both. And check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. Medicare open enrollment. Nows the time. Visit medicare. Gov or call 1800medicare. You can mix and match all day [ male announcer ] dont miss red lobsters endless shrimp, just 14. 99 try as much as you like, any way you like like parmesan crusted shrimp. Hurry in, offer ends soon im ryan isabell and i see food differently. [ male announcer ] you start your day. Love you, too. Thinking about whats important to you your family. The mortgage. The kids college tuition. [ cellphone ringing ] but Life Insurance . [ horn honking ] life is unpredictable. Thats why at Fidelity Life we want you to think about term Life Insurance taking care of your familys future expenses if something happens to you. Its easy. We get to know you and your needs, then give you our best quote and our competitors. You choose and save up to 70 . That could mean 250,000 of coverage for just 15 a month. We offer plans with no medical exam, and weve been in business for over 100 years. Call Fidelity Life. Or visit fidelitylife. Com for your free quote. [ horn honks ] hey, honey. Do we have Life Insurance . [ male announcer ] or visit fidelitylife. Com to secure your familys future today. Humorous will rogers said, im not a member of any organized political party, im a democrat. But these days, democrats seem to be rowing in the same direction while republicans are scattered all over the high seas. One person walking the gop plank these days, Indiana Senate hopeful Richard Mourdock whose comments on rape made a week after filming campaign ads with mitt romney are distracting from the former governs economy first message. Well, i hope you enjoyed that romney endorsement while it lasted. Mourdock. You can blow the kiss good bye, right, Romney Campaign. Mr. Mourdocks comments do not reflect mr. Romneys views. We still support him. Wow, not often do you hear somebody say i disagree with your views on rape and incest, but, um, um, i disagree with your views on rape and incest but not a dealbreaker. The job of scrubbing the deck fell to john sununu out in force to clear up any doubts about the campaigns position. Rape is a heinous vile act and horrible and when mourdock s says that romney immediately condemned that. Was the unfortunate rape snafu cleaned up . Perhaps. Not before sununu went on to say this about former secretary of state colin powell and his endorsement of president obama. When you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder whether thats an endorsement based on issues or he has a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. What reason would that be . Well, i think when you have somebody of your own race youre proud of being president of the United States i applaud colin for standing with him. What better way to compound a highly charged and emotional debate over race than by starting one over race. With a party like this, no wonder policy seems eager to leave the sinking ship and doesnt help when ship mates seem all too willing to throw you overboard. Friends like these, wes, who needs enemies. Lets talk about the Republican Party here. Whats amazing to me, piece by piece, that the im not going to call it snafu, the disastrous conversation around rape has been largely one of their own making. Same thing with colin powell. Okay. Someones going to break ranks and endorse the president again, cant let it go and then it becomes this debate over race, which is not a very good thing for the Republican Party to be talking about right now and also shows a party in turmoil two weeks before the election. And it shows a party whos really trying to define who they are and stand for. I think whats going to be really interesting to see is after the election, is really where youre going to watch a reckoning of the Republican Party to figure out okay, regardless of what happens we have got real issues we have to face going forward, demographic issues, economic issues, policy issues, and the Republican Party right now theres a tremendous amount of infighting and not just about the candidates, its not just about the issues that people are debating right now, it is who are the Republican Party and what is it they stand for. Also, you know, for john mccain to be talking about someone wrecking their legacy he gave us sarah palin. The positive thing i will say to balance about that about senator mccain he did not go into the racial suer in his campaign the way the romney folks have. All the push back against the powell endorsement four years ago came from the far right, i debated pat buchanan on hardball. Rush limbaugh playing the race card. Mccain wouldnt go there. You have a romney cochair being one of the first people on National Television to say that this is all about race. So you have to understand that black people are the real racists now according to the Republican Party and white people voting for romney god fored by you say any whites are voting for romney because hes white that is just reboatent. I would add like what sununu said was not a genius stroke of dog whistling but the people who are happy to talk about john sununu today are the Obama Campaign. And worth noting he issued an apology saying colin powell is a friend and respect the endorsement decision he made and do not doubt it was based on anything but his support of the president s policies. Piers morgans question whether colin powell should leave the party and i dont think he should. Sununus job has been to go out and say what everybody is thinking in the Romney Campaign but wont really say and its kind of hard for them to reel him in on things like this. Reeling in john sununu has provened to be a difficult task. They wouldnt put him out if they didnt think he was playing a role. He doesnt work for himself. This is not the first time john sununu has made a racial argument about the president. The thing that hurts him, if you listen to the endorsement colin powell gave its an effective argument. Its simply saying we understand i have a lot of respect for governor romney but when you look at the policy that hes prescribing, his foreign policy, the problem isnt the fact that he wasnt able to memorize the facts the fact he didnt have a perspective and context to the facts these are real issues that general powell was pointing to and i think that caused a real problem within the Republican Party and john sununu. The other thing were not talking about is the gop wants to get the senate back and they did this in 2010 where they had sort of wacky candidates they put out there and the democrats got the seat. This may happen again. Think about todd akin in missouri and mourdocks race, this is not good for the republicans. And i talked to a senior unnamed republican who said look, if i could sit everybody down in the room i would say you, be quiet. You be quiet. This what is were talking about. Were not going to talk about rape, or race. Theres no point in doing this two weeks out before the election. Indiana and missouri are states they should just win. We all wrote them off. We dont have the latest polling we have, one poll from october 21st shows Claire Mccaskill beating todd akin by six points right now. This was the race she was supposed to lose and yes, so all of that taken with all of that said, Rush Limbaugh is out there saying theres we dont have time to play this whole sound and it is a long and winding piece of sound that says theres not a whole lot of love for conservatives in the Republican Party except for right now which is election season but overall were punted to the sidelines. I dont think the question is, what are the republicans going to do if they lose. That narrative has already been written. Theyre going to double down. Theyre committed to this course. I wish there was a reexamination within the Republican Party. There will be long term. Dont think there will be short term. The real question is what is barack obama going to do if he wins if hes faced with the same kind of obstructionism hes been faced with and that i dont think we know the answer to. Obama is someone who spends his whole life navigating the middle ground and navigating it very, very successfully. You look at harvard law review and what he did there and brought the conservatives into the fold on the harvard law review. What happened when he got to the white house there was no middle ground and he never encountered that in his life before. I think it took him a couple years to figure that out, that the middle ground was gone. The middle ground will be gone after this election as well. The question is how do you navigate in that landscape and is obama capable of figuring that out and coming up with a new tactic. On that note, i think hes learned that to get legislation passed you dont take it to the Republican Party, you take it to the American Public and sell it in the country and what he did on the payroll tax cut and perhaps if he is reelected or gets anything done will be because he goes to the nation first. We have to leave it there. Thank you to salons joan walsh, her book whats the matter with white people is out now. Coming up, vaguely defined and highly valued pollsters, pundits and the campaigns have their attention trained on the almighty undecided voter. Will they be the Critical Force in this years election. We will ask chris hayes when he joins the panel just up ahead. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. Take tylenol or take aleve, the 1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. Back to the news. An Auto Industry back from the brink, artists and entrepreneurs and now the world series, we have been made to think detroit is undergoing a renaissance but a documentary shows us the motor city has a long and winding road to recovery. Deet cline of the Great American city, next on now. Leaving my homeland playing a lone hand my life begins today fly by night away from here change my life again fly by night, goodbye my dear my ship isnt coming and i just cant pretend oww [ male announcer ] careful, youre no longer invisible in a midsize sedan. The volkswagen passat. Winner of a motor trend midsize sedan comparison. Thats the power of german engineering. To bring you a lowpriced Medicare Prescription Drug plan. With a low National Plan premium. And copays as low as one dollar. Saving on your medicare prescriptions is easy. So youre free to focus on the things that really matter. Call humana at 18008084003. Or go to walmart. Com for details. We cannot take any more cutbacks, period. Not only in relation to the public, but services, period. Were not going to ac tept any more downsizing. We want to hear about upsizing, big sizing, super sizing detroit. That is a scene from the documentary detropia. 1930 detroit was the Fastest Growing city in the world. A mecca for industry and innovation, a metropolis of more than 1. 5 million people. Now, 82 years later it is the epitome of decline, fastest shrinking city in the country. In just ten years, from 2000 to 2010, detroit lost nearly a quarter of its population, dropping to about 713,000. Left behind, abandoned buildings, shuttered factories and empty land. So many vacant lots you could fit the entire city of paris in them. And there is no sign of the trend being reversed. According to the detroit free press, the city issues ten demolition permits for every one new construction permit. The mayor of detroit promised to demolish 10,000 homes during his fouryear term will the goal of downsizing detroit into a denseble city. Also detroit native mark, author of detroit city is the place to be due out next month. Thank you for joining me and wes. We are he excited to talk about this topic underdiscussed the decline of americas great cities. Rachel, there is a talk in and around the movie of ruin, to say this idea that these cities, theyre all these vacant homes artists can go there, thing are happening with food and arts and culture but the city as it is for residents, its a false narrative. That these cities really are struggling and you look at whats happening with the downsizing in detroit and that would bear that out. Also the narrative has been even blown up even more just from the super bowl commercials, it was incredible, they happened while we were filming and a couple commercials and everyone was satisfied with the story that everything is fine for the city and that its coming back. But, you know, theres 650,000 people there that dont have a good quality of life. Our story hopefully sheds light on them. Heidi, when were talking about the narrative of detroit and the problems, theres systemic failures were looking at. This statistic was staggering, the National Institute for literacy says 47 of adults living in detroit are functionally illiterate. Thats half the population of the city thats functionally illiterate. Theres a problem with education which leads to social mobility and economic success. Absolutely. Thats why problems, the systemic problems in detroit are hard to solve and where youre not hearing them in the campaign trail. We hear about the bailout, how the city was somehow saved with the Auto Industry bailout which was a good thing, but until we look at the systemic problem of lack of transportation, lack of resources, no tax base, and a subpar Education System in place in detroit and other cities like it were not really getting to the root of the problem with American Cities at all. Its interesting, mark, in your book, theres we look at what mayor of detroit is trying to do with the city and the downsizing thing is really interesting. And nobody knows how its going to play out. In your book, you say the prospect of such a comprehensive reckoning with land use, to say the downsizing, depopulation sprawl and the future of the American City felt like an important moment one with potential application for the aging metropolises large and small which made the present day state of our union so atypically morbid. The plan could be one of the bollest reimagings of urban space in modern u. S. History. Sadly theres no money to enact these plans. You film one of the meetings i was at and the same scene appears in my book and, you know, a lot of talk, there had been lots of meetings, but no Real Progress on the right sizing initiative, which yes, definitely if it was implemented the way its been spoken about it would be an amazing effectively to clarify, turning this land over to become gardens or vacant lots i think, 40 of the real estate parcels in the city only 40 are paying taxes but detroit is 140 square miles and 40 square miles of that are vacant. The problem is, its not people think its like one chunk of vacant land the size of paris, but its spread over the city. The tricky thing is incentivizing people to move into more dense urban cores and then b, getting this vacant land away from people who are sitting on it who maybe live in california. There are lots of land speculators who own this stuff and are letting these houses decline and letting the fields get overgrown. Its really tricky. I know along those lines youve had other cities such as baltimore who have looked at vacant to value, trying to offload that inventory and its amazingly difficult. Have they looked at any examples as to places where this has worked and they can take inspiration from . Actually, youngstown, a smaller city but with the same problem as detroit and also the same manufacturing path, steel town, et cetera, they tried to do this with very mixed results. Youve got people if you dont pay them to move, where are they going to go and whats their incentive to leave. Someone thats the only house on the block, mowed their lawn, manicured, proud of their home to get them to leave to go to a more dense area, well whats their incentive if youre not going to pay them to do so. Its hard looks good on paper. Hard to make this happen in reality. I would assume theres a sort of survival mentality you have if youve been there that long. Rachel, the people, tell us about the psychology of sort of being a detroit resident at this point. Well, be what we hopefully have picked up on the film theres sort of a gal los humor, theyre allowed to have, but when people come there they feel picked on. Its been the example of a declining city for 20, 30 years, and i think now that theres all this attention, theres movies and books and people are interested in this place, as theyre starting to feel the same issues and problems, its spreading to other cities detroiters are like yeah where have you been. Weve been talking about this for years and now youre noticing that, you know, your municipalities are going broke. Your all the resources of your city are depleting. So i think theyre frustrated but theyre incredibly hopeful. They stay. The fact they have stayed, a city where people have to commute three hours to work because the infrastructure there in terms of transportation is already gutted and getting trimmed back further, so its like just surviving basically getting to work becomes its almost something you have to fight for. Theres no National Chains grocery chains, in the city of detroit. You have to leave the city in order to get food, produce, and but there is a whole foods that is opening, but the majority of people cant afford that. Thats really for the newcomers and all the young, new excited people coming to detroit which is wonderful, but we want to make sure the rest of the detroiters who have stuck with the city for all these years dont get left behind. And salon article from this year speaks to that. They were in the piece, they write what these dreams seldom include however are the almost unimaginable systemic problems many of these cities suffer from, failed schools, violent crime, the threat of municipal bankruptcy. Photographers parachuting in to shoot Michigan Central station and Anthony Bourdains gushing endorsement may be crowding the fact that crisis wont be lifted by chickness alone. So whole foods does not make a city. We will return to this question after the break. According to new statistics more than a dozen u. S. Cities going broke, based on debt. We will look at the decline and fall of some of americas great metropolises, next. Im only in my 60s. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. So when i found out medicare doesnt pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. Then i got a Medicare Supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if youre eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. Call now and find out about an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement plans, it helps pick up some of what medicare doesnt pay. And could save you thousands in outofpocket costs. To me, relationships matter. Ive been with my doctor for 12 years. Now i know ill be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] with these types of plans, youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. 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Ive told you twice, we negotiate any kind of agreement its going to be a livable wage. What did she tell us about a livable wage . I dont care [ inaudible ] livable wage. Point blank. Why . To beat us down, what . I mean ridiculous, why. To human late us. Why . What good is that . What are you thinking youre going to feel every day going into work . They dont care. Thats the biggest problem. Thats a scene from detropia as Union Workers learn their latest contract would result in a huge pay cut according to the wall street journal veteran workers at the three automakers make upwards of 33 an hour, new hires half that. The lower wages are one reason factory jobs are coming back in the u. S. With 200,000 positions added in the past year. Unlikely the Manufacturing Sector will ever be what it was a few decades ago. In 1979 at the peak, there were 19. 6 Million Manufacturing positions and now there are a little less than 12 million. The erosion of manufacturing jobs has led to the decline of once booming urban areas across the country. Baltimore lost about 30 of its population from 1970 to 2010, cleveland lost nearly 50 during the same time period, pittsburghs population stands at about 306,000, down about 41 since 1970 and more than half of the People Living in youngstown, ohio, packed up and left over the last four decades. Wes, i want to go to you first. I dont know if america knows but you have moved back to baltimore which is one of the Great American cities but a city that has seen its fair share of problems and flight out of the city. I wonder, lets talk first why . Why did you choose to go back to baltimore . You know, it was a question that even a lot of my friends asked me when i said im going back to baltimore, they were like why . Honestly i believe in the baltimore story. I believe in the fact im a very proud baltimorens and we are proud people, proud of our city and have a lot of infrastructure thats in place thats actually showing where were making a renaissance. If you look at School Readiness indicators in baltimore, 12 years ago we were at 27 of kids were at School Readiness now we have around 73 of kids at School Readiness. New infrastructure coming back, arts and cultural base coming back. Its an exciting time to be there but youre going with both eyes open understanding theres economic challenges, social challenges that have to be tackled, particularly when looking at Great American citys. We brought up those manufacturing stats because thats we talk about the systemic problems with a lot of these cities and the reality is, is detroit ever going to be a Manufacturing Center like it was in we really dont know. I think the president pointed out, you know, hes gotten hit hard from the republicans as far as economic recovery and jobs coming back and this is what he said in the second debate and i thought it was an interesting moment of honesty about where americas sort of manufacturing jobs are going to be. Lets take a listen. Theres some jobs that are not going to come back. Because theyre low wage, low skill jobs. I want high wage, high skill jobs. Thats why we have to emphasize manufacturing. Thats why we have to invest in advanced manufacturing. Thats why weve got to make sure weve got the best science and research in the world. Heidi, pittsburgh has seen some rebound in terms of its own economy and some part of that is due to the university sector, more of an emphasis on robotics and biotechnology which is centered around the universitys carnegiemellon and university of pittsburgh. How many jobs you can create in those sectors and how quickly you can, paul krugman saying in the times if you didnt know what was going on in the u. S. Economy you would think from reading the obama plan america was a place where workers with the right skills were in high demand so our big problem was not that enough people have those skills. Five or ten years from now america might look like that. Right now, however, were still living in a depressed economy offering poor prospects for everyone including the highly educated. Its just that theres those low skilled or unskilled manufacturing jobs employed millions of people. Those arent coming back. Weve lost over 2 Million Manufacturing jobs overall since the clinton era. We are on that decline. Were looking for the next big thing. What is the next big industry that can employ millions of people. Everyone is searching for that, hoping for that. Hightech manufacturing is important. It doesnt require as many bodies as the old model did. The Economic Policy institute said that green jobs are growing faster than the overall economy and they are accessible to those without a College Education it comes down to a numbers game, wes. The question is, we look at this choice election that we have in front of us and the economic prescriptions being offered by both parties and i think the biggest problem for me as far as where mitt romneys prescription lies is the notion that you cure americas ills by cutting taxes for the top 1 to 10 . If you look at real Median Income is as of last year, its 50,000, which is 8 lower than 2007. The top fifth of this country earned over 51 of all incomes. It is an imbalance that is historic and i think very distressing. Heres the problem with mitt romneys equation. In Major Economic cities and major urban cities do we need to address things like tax rates. Yes. Because the fact is in major metropolitans theyre paying more in taxes than their suburban neighbors. However the most important thing we have to do is increase the tax base, have more people in there who actually have good sustainable jobs. By doing things like addressing the educational disparities, doing things like making sure the education is trained towards Jobs Available and making sure were putting in places where they can actually be successful in their work, thats how you increase the tax base, thats how you encourage more business to invest inside the area and address the economic disparities mitt romney is talking about without saying if we decrease taxes for the very rich somehow it will trickle down. That experiment has not worked. I will try to leave this segment on a high note which is to say that the Detroit Tigers are in the world series. Yeah. Go tigers. Which is i mean i love san francisco, but really, the city should get it. Absolutely. To win this one. They earned that. Right. They deserve it. Thank you to our resident detroit experts rachel grady and heidi ewing their film detropia is out now, arthur mark binelli, detroit city the place to be, which goes on sale november 13th. Go tigers. Coming up Vice President joe biden wants americans to know that you dont have to wait until november 6th to vote. Snoor i want to make what we call a Public Service announcement. Early voting is available between now and november the 2nd. But you cant really cast your ballot if you dont know who you are supporting. So whos is actually still undecided in this election . Well look under the desk and in between the seat cushions for undecided voters. When chris hayes joins us for up now, next. President obama theres just no quit in america. And youre seeing that right now. Over five million new jobs. Exports up forty one percent. Home values. Rising. Our Auto Industry. Back. And our heroes are coming home. Were not there yet, but weve made Real Progress and the. Last thing we should do is turn back now. Heres my plan for the next four years making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting americanmade energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where. We can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. And ending the war in afghanistan, so we can. Do some nationbuilding here at home. Thats the right path. So read my plan, compare it to governor romneys. And decide which is better for you. Its an honor to be your president. And im asking for your vote. So together, we can keep moving america forward. Im barack obama and i approve this message. Its okay that theres a tiny fraction of uncommitted voters in a few swing states who will decide this election. Can we please stop treating them like theyre more noble and discerning than the rest of us. Put on a ped da stall by the media as if they were hamlets in a think tank searching out every last bit of information, high minded arbiters pouring over policy positions and matching them against their own philosophies, please. They mostly fall into a category political scientists call low information voters. The obama and Romney Campaigns are both courting that rarest of breeds the elusive undecided voter, believed to make up about 6 of the electorate these voters are disproportionately, white, female, lack a College Education and earn under 25,000 a year. Here is a man never has a problem making up his mind chris hayes host for up for a segment we call up now. I almost didnt. Well, real talk. Up now. Talk about undecided voters. There is like beginning to see the edges of disdain for these people. I think this happens every four years. Theres two sides to this. This obsessive putting on a ped da stall we get at the debates when networks will assemble these crews what do you think. And we think its fundamentally offensive to our democratic instinct because we think we are all voters one person one vote and were all equal. The Electoral College renders our votes vastly unequal and on top of that the point in the election when you decide particularly in increasingly partisan polarized atmosphere renders your vote more valuable and we find that offensive and then theres fascination with what are these people thinking and how do they make up their minds. You know, mike murphy quoted in a new yorker piece this weekend that says undecided voters who make up only 6 of the electorate are often incoherent which makes it difficult to create an effective pitch to them. Independents voted for obama and 24 months later voted for a republican. Embedded in this is a strategy the Obama Campaign may seem to have adopted which is it isnt necessarily about the independent voters, making sure your supporters whether sporadic voters or voted for you in 2008 are coming back out to the polls. At this point the amount of persuasion left to do is nil. Were down to the turnout operation. The other thing is most people who register as independent act like partisans. We talk about independent voters but the vast majority vote like republicans or democrats and then of the undecided the majority are rej stertds with the party and will vote for the party. Men smith is nodding his head. There are people making up their minds and changing their minds. Ideological coherence is something people here care about but most voters that elect the president of the United States cares about. The most ridiculous end romney going for people who care about lyme disease and ticks in virginia trying to grab on to anything they can. In ohio the Obama Campaign has been effective with regional issues, Auto Industry and pushing local issues people care about like youre running a state or local race. 2004, before i was a fulltime reporter i took two months and worked on for the league of conservation voters going door to door talking to undecided voters two months every day and one of the things i learned was that the very the way that people who think about politics all the time thing about politics is different than the way that people who dont ever think about politics think about politics. The vastness of that difference is a difficult thing to bridge. The place it hit home to me most was the conception of the issue as a conceptual category. When i say what issues do you care about. Choice and taxation. Youve already internalized the fact thats the way we cut the world into pieces. If you start a campaign website, you would know what the headings are. Defense, economy. My issues are longer recess and soda in the water fountain. Something else entirely. Neil newhouse says about independent undecided voters, overwhelmingly concerned with their family budgets, not the national budget, they are concerned about putting food on the table or gas in the tank. They are struggling with their daily lives which is fair. Yeah. Is there anything we know about whether or not if youre undecided, a week before the election, will you generally sway towards an incumbent or sway against an incumbent . For a while this kind of mythology they broke towards the challenger but i think thats not shown to be the case in the last two elections, particularly at national levels. Theyve broadly split about 50 50. Certain point folks deciding this late are doing something thats not that different from flipping a coin. We looked under the desk to try to find an undecided voter for this segment but couldnt find one. Maybe by tomorrow morning when your show is on. We have a full panel of 50 undecided voters. Hook them up to an ekg. Squiggly line. Thank you to eric, wes, chris and ben, catch chris on up tomorrow and sunday at 8 00 a. M. Eastern time. Ill see you back monday at noon eastern, 9 00 a. M. Pacific when joined by ari melbourne, the atlantics james bennett. Until then find us at facebook. Com now with alex. Andrea mitchell reports is next. Sitting in is the man whos just a little bit country, just a little bit rock and roll, americas very own chris cizilla. Good afternoon, chris. Hello, alex. I have a quick question, did you ban ties for men on the show today . We like to keep it easy breezy, casual fridays. My mom would yell at me, thank you, alex. Coming up, mitt romney will be delivering what his campaign is calling a Major Economic speech. Well carry it live. President obama is going after young voters today. Campaign cochair and actor call pen will join me. Douglas brinkley here to discuss his interview with the president in Rolling Stone magazine. Andrea mitchell reports is next. T im still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesnt unstuff your nose. What . [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. Thanks. Thats the cold truth but, dad, youve got. [ voice of dennis ] allstate. With accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. Are you in good hands . Hey. Hey eddie. I brought your stuff. You dont have to do this. Yes i do. I want you to keep this. Itd be weird. Take care. You too. So how did it go . Hes upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations with best in class fuel economy. Its our most innovative altima ever. Now get a 199 per month lease on a 2013 nissan altima
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