>>> mitt romney has campaigned as many things this election cycle, governor, olympics chair, ceo, and he's now added one more gig to his resume, human pretzel. it's thursday, september 27th and this is "now."
>>> joining me today, favorite impoverty from the united kingdom , msnbc political analyst richard wolffe , former adviser to hillary clinton , deputy new york city city mayor howard wolfson , politico senior political reporter lois romano and bloomberg editor, josh tyrangiel . president obama and governor romney are chasing each other's shadows. for the second day in a row conditions are scheduled to have dueling rallies in the same swing state . today's rallies each in virginia. the president is running a little bit late. president obama 's campaign responding to romney 's new straight to camera ad with one of its own a two-minute living room pitch airing in seven states.
>> during the last weeks of the campaign, there will be debates, speeches, and more ads. but if i could sit down with you, in your living room or around the kitchen table, here's what i'd say -- when i took office we were losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month and mired in iraq. today i believe that as a nation we are moving forward again.
>> yesterday in ohio, governor romney also seemed to be in a duel with himself. morning rally he condemned the affordable care act as government invasion.
>> he also thinks that the government can do a better job than you in the way you live your life and obama care is point number one. it's the example number one he wants to put bureaucrats between you and your doctor, believes the government should tell you what kind of insurance you have to have.
>> the very same day, specifically eight hours and 15 minutes later, romney made the case for, wait for it, the president's signature piece of legislation.
>> throughout this campaign, as well, we've talked about my record of massachusetts, don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured. 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance . i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record.
>> yes, that was mitt romney making the case for government-sponsored health care , the one part of his record he wasn't supposed to mention until he was safely ensconced in 1600 pennsylvania avenue . one thing the republican party agreed it's firmly against, the one thing that mitt romney has said he will definitely, without question, no ifs, ands, or buts repeal on day one of his presidency or, you know, maybe not.
>> don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured, 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance . i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care to the people of the country as the record.
>> 40 days from election day , five days from the first debate. and governor romney still can't decide if he is for or against universal health care . how ar howard wolfson , how are moments like that still possible?
>> well, because mitt romney 's been running away from his record through the entirety of the campaign but every so often the muscle memory pops up. and it's probably something on some level that he is proud of. it's his single accomplishment as governor of massachusetts , something he worked very hard to do as governor of ma m. assachusetts and probably wished he could have spoke about it more in the context of the campaign but did not. it's difficult to run for office if you can't talk about your signal accomplishment in pub public life .
>> this is the scene in "a few good men" where jack nicholson loses it you can't handle the truth, i had health care legislation, i liked it. it's a difficult position but i guess i'm surprised by the fact we know romney 's ensconced couple of days, he has a big,ing about day next week and, yet he's still saying this stuff.
>> may be why he's a tricky debate opponent, he'll take every side. but the quandary he's in now, and it's been the position he's had throughout, but re-elections are about hiring and firing. they have bedone a good job of fire, the american people say they're not happy with direction of the country they don't like the president's performance on the economy but that's picked up recently. the hiring question is where he has singularly failed and numbers are getting worse. every time he tries to make the case and strengthen his case for hire me, he's weakening the case for firing the other guy. he did it in that ad when he's speaking to camera, the ad that got released the other dade, he said the president and i both care about people, and that's his way of saying i'm a good guy, too, hire me, but in saying that he makes it much harder to fire the other guy because the other guy cares about people. and the same is true with health care . if you think his job was good on spreading health care to everyone, that's less of a reason to fire the other guide. so his problem is, every time now he makes the case that he's a better hiring position, he's making a worse case about firing the other guy.
>> i mean, also, lois, he spent such a large -- romney spent a significant time trying to reassure the conservative base he's a conservative. and then you have moments like that where he's touting massachusetts health care reform and it probably undermines everything he said in the past. i will draw everyone's attention to the comments of a newton leroy gingrich who is giving advice to mitt romney ahead of the debates. this is what newt gingrich said last night on cnn.
>> they seem to have a overly methodical model where they go out and keep saying the same thing and it done -- the world's too fluid, too sophisticated for that, it's clearly something that you can go out and you can communicate and you can do dramatically better than romney 's currently doing.
>> lois, everybody in the republican party has advice for mitt romney ahead of the debate. rich lowry writes new yoo invention will save romney , it all comes down to him. what do you make of that?
>> what it gets down to now, we have 40 days and can they turn around the narrative? it's looking less and less likely. obama people laid out a narrative he was out of touch that he was too rich, he was all of these things and then he played right into it with the 47% comment. and i think that's resonated with people. i've heard it from teen averages from venders, you know, people are remembering that and i don't know that he can turn it around because there's a migration of voters now.
>> josh, when you look at health care stuff and romney 's inability to sell himself better, everybody's talking about the campaign that's misguided but this fundamentally at center of all of this is mitt romney and you see someone embattled with himself.
>> two things going on particular at this moment. one is we're 40 days out and people are punch drunk. i have tremendous amount of empathy on people working on the campaigns, they've been at it for years. all of a sudden, particularly the republican side you're seeing outside strategists saying no, we can do it better. unforced error like romney , these guys are exhausted. you can see for the first time romney looking exhausted. the other thing that's unique to the campaign, there's a term in chess that you cannot make a move that doesn't make your position worse. from the beginning, because of affordable health care and romney 's stance in massachusetts, unlike every other republican candidate, he's been zugzwagged, they're trying to put it on obama . running out of time . everybody to richard's point, they heard, we think you should fire this guy, what are you going to do? now that they have to get into specifics, every move alienates one side or the other, and you run out of votes. what you're seeing this this sort of policy water torture that he is going to have to get through, if you're a more artful campaigner you can tell a story that will help you but i don't see a way out of that.
>> the romney candidacy is representative of a party in crisis. the problem is republicans -- for the first time ever, howard, the democrats are owning foreign policy and national security and they're all on message. looked at super pac messages. republicans are dealing out different messages depending where they are, who the super pac is and a romney campaign doing it's own mixes message.
>> look at polling acro cross cross-count cross-country, at federal and local level, republicans across the board have taken a hit in the last two or three weeks. i think it began with todd akins' comments in missouri where people say, they're too extreme on social issues, this makes me anxious, specially women and followed up with romney 's comments about the 47%, people who weren't concerned about the social issues said that's making me uncomfortable on the economic issues and this resonated across the board. you have a brand in some crisis and republicans are increasingly nervous at all levels. you hear some chatter that some of the big money folks will decide to pull money from the romney super pacs and begin shoring up the house of representatives ' pacs and senate pacs in the hope of saving something.
>> donors have been told for months three inflection points for this -- for the contest to change. one is a vip pick, which the romney team had, second convention, the third is debate he's over to, right now, richard.
>> that's not rocket science . i know what donors are going for their money but there are three bullets in this one and they have shot two of them. the debate, you know, debate for a challenger is about crossing the presidential bar. he's got to cross the presidential bar, some of that happens because you stand on stage next to a president. but you've got to go in his case, a knockout blow. numbers will change. numbers changed a lot for john ker kerry, came back through debates two and three.
>> john kerry still lost.
>> policy speeches at this stage is very, very hard, not just to ingest for the voters but to break through for the candidates. you -- what we started out with the election republicans wanted it to be a referendum on obama . to pick up howard's point, it went from being a referendum on obama to a choice between the two parties and there is a danger it's a referendum on the republican party .
>> yeah.
>> and that's so far from where they need to be. one great performance isn't going to fix that.
>> doesn't help if you have a candidate who isn't quite sure where he stands on one major of the major planks of the party. governor romney and congressman paul ryan are running like their republican predecessors on the promise of tax cuts . does cutting taxes fuel economic growth ? new york sometimes david leonhardt explains why the good times may not necessarily roll next on "now." bob... oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good
>>> joining me today, favorite impoverty from the united kingdom , msnbc political analyst richard wolffe , former adviser to hillary clinton , deputy new york city city mayor howard wolfson , politico senior political reporter lois romano and bloomberg editor, josh tyrangiel . president obama and governor romney are chasing each other's shadows. for the second day in a row conditions are scheduled to have dueling rallies in the same swing state . today's rallies each in virginia. the president is running a little bit late. president obama 's campaign responding to romney 's new straight to camera ad with one of its own a two-minute living room pitch airing in seven states.
>> during the last weeks of the campaign, there will be debates, speeches, and more ads. but if i could sit down with you, in your living room or around the kitchen table, here's what i'd say -- when i took office we were losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month and mired in iraq. today i believe that as a nation we are moving forward again.
>> yesterday in ohio, governor romney also seemed to be in a duel with himself. morning rally he condemned the affordable care act as government invasion.
>> he also thinks that the government can do a better job than you in the way you live your life and obama care is point number one. it's the example number one he wants to put bureaucrats between you and your doctor, believes the government should tell you what kind of insurance you have to have.
>> the very same day, specifically eight hours and 15 minutes later, romney made the case for, wait for it, the president's signature piece of legislation.
>> throughout this campaign, as well, we've talked about my record of massachusetts, don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured. 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance . i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record.
>> yes, that was mitt romney making the case for government-sponsored health care , the one part of his record he wasn't supposed to mention until he was safely ensconced in 1600 pennsylvania avenue . one thing the republican party agreed it's firmly against, the one thing that mitt romney has said he will definitely, without question, no ifs, ands, or buts repeal on day one of his presidency or, you know, maybe not.
>> don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured, 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance . i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care to the people of the country as the record.
>> 40 days from election day , five days from the first debate. and governor romney still can't decide if he is for or against universal health care . how ar howard wolfson , how are moments like that still possible?
>> well, because mitt romney 's been running away from his record through the entirety of the campaign but every so often the muscle memory pops up. and it's probably something on some level that he is proud of. it's his single accomplishment as governor of massachusetts , something he worked very hard to do as governor of ma m. assachusetts and probably wished he could have spoke about it more in the context of the campaign but did not. it's difficult to run for office if you can't talk about your signal accomplishment in pub public life .
>> this is the scene in "a few good men" where jack nicholson loses it you can't handle the truth, i had health care legislation, i liked it. it's a difficult position but i guess i'm surprised by the fact we know romney 's ensconced couple of days, he has a big,ing about day next week and, yet he's still saying this stuff.
>> may be why he's a tricky debate opponent, he'll take every side. but the quandary he's in now, and it's been the position he's had throughout, but re-elections are about hiring and firing. they have bedone a good job of fire, the american people say they're not happy with direction of the country they don't like the president's performance on the economy but that's picked up recently. the hiring question is where he has singularly failed and numbers are getting worse. every time he tries to make the case and strengthen his case for hire me, he's weakening the case for firing the other guy. he did it in that ad when he's speaking to camera, the ad that got released the other dade, he said the president and i both care about people, and that's his way of saying i'm a good guy, too, hire me, but in saying that he makes it much harder to fire the other guy because the other guy cares about people. and the same is true with health care . if you think his job was good on spreading health care to everyone, that's less of a reason to fire the other guide. so his problem is, every time now he makes the case that he's a better hiring position, he's making a worse case about firing the other guy.
>> i mean, also, lois, he spent such a large -- romney spent a significant time trying to reassure the conservative base he's a conservative. and then you have moments like that where he's touting massachusetts health care reform and it probably undermines everything he said in the past. i will draw everyone's attention to the comments of a newton leroy gingrich who is giving advice to mitt romney ahead of the debates. this is what newt gingrich said last night on cnn.
>> they seem to have a overly methodical model where they go out and keep saying the same thing and it done -- the world's too fluid, too sophisticated for that, it's clearly something that you can go out and you can communicate and you can do dramatically better than romney 's currently doing.
>> lois, everybody in the republican party has advice for mitt romney ahead of the debate. rich lowry writes new yoo invention will save romney , it all comes down to him. what do you make of that?
>> what it gets down to now, we have 40 days and can they turn around the narrative? it's looking less and less likely. obama people laid out a narrative he was out of touch that he was too rich, he was all of these things and then he played right into it with the 47% comment. and i think that's resonated with people. i've heard it from teen averages from venders, you know, people are remembering that and i don't know that he can turn it around because there's a migration of voters now.
>> josh, when you look at health care stuff and romney 's inability to sell himself better, everybody's talking about the campaign that's misguided but this fundamentally at center of all of this is mitt romney and you see someone embattled with himself.
>> two things going on particular at this moment. one is we're 40 days out and people are punch drunk. i have tremendous amount of empathy on people working on the campaigns, they've been at it for years. all of a sudden, particularly the republican side you're seeing outside strategists saying no, we can do it better. unforced error like romney , these guys are exhausted. you can see for the first time romney looking exhausted. the other thing that's unique to the campaign, there's a term in chess that you cannot make a move that doesn't make your position worse. from the beginning, because of affordable health care and romney 's stance in massachusetts, unlike every other republican candidate, he's been zugzwagged, they're trying to put it on obama . running out of time . everybody to richard's point, they heard, we think you should fire this guy, what are you going to do? now that they have to get into specifics, every move alienates one side or the other, and you run out of votes. what you're seeing this this sort of policy water torture that he is going to have to get through, if you're a more artful campaigner you can tell a story that will help you but i don't see a way out of that.
>> the romney candidacy is representative of a party in crisis. the problem is republicans -- for the first time ever, howard, the democrats are owning foreign policy and national security and they're all on message. looked at super pac messages. republicans are dealing out different messages depending where they are, who the super pac is and a romney campaign doing it's own mixes message.
>> look at polling acro cross cross-count cross-country, at federal and local level, republicans across the board have taken a hit in the last two or three weeks. i think it began with todd akins' comments in missouri where people say, they're too extreme on social issues, this makes me anxious, specially women and followed up with romney 's comments about the 47%, people who weren't concerned about the social issues said that's making me uncomfortable on the economic issues and this resonated across the board. you have a brand in some crisis and republicans are increasingly nervous at all levels. you hear some chatter that some of the big money folks will decide to pull money from the romney super pacs and begin shoring up the house of representatives ' pacs and senate pacs in the hope of saving something.
>> donors have been told for months three inflection points for this -- for the contest to change. one is a vip pick, which the romney team had, second convention, the third is debate he's over to, right now, richard.
>> that's not rocket science . i know what donors are going for their money but there are three bullets in this one and they have shot two of them. the debate, you know, debate for a challenger is about crossing the presidential bar. he's got to cross the presidential bar, some of that happens because you stand on stage next to a president. but you've got to go in his case, a knockout blow. numbers will change. numbers changed a lot for john ker kerry, came back through debates two and three.
>> john kerry still lost.
>> policy speeches at this stage is very, very hard, not just to ingest for the voters but to break through for the candidates. you -- what we started out with the election republicans wanted it to be a referendum on obama . to pick up howard's point, it went from being a referendum on obama to a choice between the two parties and there is a danger it's a referendum on the republican party .
>> yeah.
>> and that's so far from where they need to be. one great performance isn't going to fix that.
>> doesn't help if you have a candidate who isn't quite sure where he stands on one major of the major planks of the party. governor romney and congressman paul ryan are running like their republican predecessors on the promise of tax cuts . does cutting taxes fuel economic growth ? new york sometimes david leonhardt explains why the good times may not necessarily roll next on "now." bob... oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good