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Competing Presidential Visions; Romney Slams New Jobs Report; Unemployment Ticks Up To 7.9 Percent; Long Lines At New York/New Jersey Gas Stations; At Least 92 Dead From Sandy In U.S.; Devastation, Frustration In Staten Island; 171,000 Jobs Added In October; Romney Campaigns In Wisconsin; Betting On Nevada; Tuning in, Taking Notes; Obama Campaigns in Ohio
Aired November 02, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with us.
It is a busy hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. Just ahead, the Superstorm Sandy, the misery of long lines and short tempers and staggering new estimates of how much it will cost all of us.
Pocketbook politics this morning, new unemployment numbers are out and the presidential campaigns are all in. Four days before the election, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama present their closing arguments.
We are sharing their CNN op-ed posted just this morning on cnn.com. Both men offering competing visions to win your vote. Here is a little bit of the rival messages that went online on our website this morning.
President Obama rallying around Superstorm Sandy and a government response that has been earning a lot of praise frankly. His op-ed, quote, "The petty differences that consume us in normal times quickly melt away. There are no Democrats or Republicans in the storm, only fellow Americans, and that is how we get through the most trying times, together," end quote.
Governor Romney instead writing about the trying times of a troubled economy. Quote, "We have been mired in economic slowdown that has left millions of our fellow citizens unemployed. The consequences and dreams shattered, lives disrupted, plans deferred and hopes dimmed can be found all around us," end quote.
Of course, covering both campaigns this morning, let's begin with our White House correspondent Brianna Keilar. She is at an Obama event set to begin in Hilliard, Ohio that's near Columbus, Ohio in Franklin County.
Brianna, tell us more a bit more about Obama's final message to the voters.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, a lot of his message is going to be about patience and things are getting under way here in Hilliard. I should tell you Governor Strickland was just introduced behind me.
We know President Obama is on the way here and we are expecting that is a message of patience that he will be urging. Probably using the jobs numbers from today to say, look, the economy is slowly, but surely moving in the right direction, and this isn't the time to change course.
Obviously, countering very much to what we have heard from Governor Romney as he tries to urge the voters to change course. If yesterday was any indication, expect some strong pretty jigs at Governor Romney for positioning himself as the candidate of change in this election.
We heard yesterday the President talk about how Mitt Romney is not the candidate of change, but he has not put specifics on to a number of his economic plans. And we are expecting him to hit Governor Romney in the same way today -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Brianna Keilar, we will get back to you as soon as the President -- is that a live picture of the President getting off of Air Force One. He is on tape, and that is when he arrived in Ohio.
When he begins speaking, of course, we will take his comments live. Also a Romney event is about to get under way in West Alice, Wisconsin. That's a suburb of Milwaukee.
The Republican nominee is due to speak near the end of the hour, and of course, we will take Romney's comments live as well. CNN's political editor, Paul Steinhauser is in Washington with the latest on Romney.
Paul, the Romney campaign, they wasted no time in seizing on this new jobs report. What's their spin?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, about a half an hour after the Labor Department came out with the report, Mitt Romney came out with a statement, and it's something we've heard from him before when it comes to jobs numbers.
Here's what Mitt Romney said, for four years, President Obama has told us that things are getting better and we are making progress. For too many American families those words ring hollow. We can do better.
We can have real economic growth, create millions of good paying jobs and give middle class families the security and opportunity they deserve.
Carol, very much the same kind of words Mitt Romney has been using for a year and a half now that he says he can do a better job creating the jobs that the President and he says the President's policies are not working.
You will hear him on the campaign trail in Wisconsin repeating the language in front of cameras very soon -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, and we should mention what exactly that jobs report said. Added 171,000 jobs that is better than expected, but the unemployment rate picked up just a bit to 7.9 percent, although it is below that psychological thing of 8 percent, which I suppose some would say is good for the President.
I want to ask you about this Pew Research Center poll because you answered it, you know, in part. When voters were asked who would do a better job at the economy, most people say Romney, but when you ask voters who best understands their problems, the answer is Obama. So what does that mean?
STEINHAUSER: It is a problem for Mitt Romney. Yes, for me a year and a half has been running for second time as a president. He has been touting the business background, his skills in creating jobs in the private sector, and that does seem to ring true to people.
That they think he would do a slightly better job and the President would when it comes to the economy and when it comes to jobs, but most important, do you understand how middle-class people are dealing with pain and the economy.
And there Mitt Romney seems to be lacking in these poll numbers and that is important because people not only vote on the issues, they vote on who they feel can relate to them, which candidate.
And Carol, one thing about the economy, since December 2007, the economy has been the top concern among American voters and it has not changed and what is the top economic issue on the minds of Americans, jobs, jobs, jobs -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Tuesday should be an interesting day.
STEINHAUSER: Yes.
COSTELLO: Hopefully, it will be over by Wednesday that is all I have to say. Paul Steinhauser, thank you very much.
A reminder, President Obama is scheduled to speak in Ohio in just about 15 minutes. When he begins speaking, we will take you back there live. We will also take you to Mitt Romney's event in Wisconsin that's set to begin in just about 40 minutes.
COSTELLO: A problem following Superstorm Sandy is getting worse. We are talking about the search for gas. People are lining up for a mile or more at the few gas stations that are open. Many gas stations don't have power for the pumps or they are simply out of gas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was on line at three gas stations that closed down while I was there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is your fourth try again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I missed a day of work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We come from Jersey, and this is probably three hours to get into the city, and there is no gas there. And just to say it is a shame what is happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That is just gas for cars. A lot of people need gas to run their generators because as you well know power is still out at so many homes. The U.S. death toll from Sandy has risen now to 92. Forty one of those deaths are in New York City alone and about half those deaths coming from Staten Island, which is one of the hardest hit areas. Many people there still without power. Some say they have not seen FEMA or the American Red Cross. One woman literally begged for help as Senator Chuck Schumer was touring that area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONNA SOLI, STATEN ISLAND RESIDENT: We are going to die. With the weather, we are going to die. We are going to freeze. We have 90- year-old people. We are going to die. You don't understand, you have get your trucks here on the corner, now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are trying to get them.
SOLI: This is three days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Staten Island Borough president said Red Cross volunteers finally did show up yesterday. He told Anderson Cooper FEMA will bring more help today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MOLINARO, STATEN ISLAND BOROUGH PRESIDENT: Someone to speak to, how do I get help? With whom do I get help? How do my children go to school? They don't have a home? This is answers to be answered by government and it is to do for people who can't do for themselves, and no answers for that.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC 360": Listen, we want to touch base with you tomorrow, and if they don't show up, will you let us know?
MOLINARO: Yes. Thank you for giving us the publicity that we need. Thank you very, very much. God bless you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Brian Todd in Staten Island this morning. Do you see FEMA anywhere around?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I don't see FEMA, but I do see some city bulldozers and dump trucks and other apparatus. I see some National Guard troops coming down the street. They may walk in front of me in a couple of seconds here.
There is relief being driven in and people are walking around and starting to pick up the pieces. You will see some evidence that there are some official entities here ready to help clean up this neighborhood, and help starts to pick up.
But you still do get the sense that people here are overwhelmed by this entire thing, and yes, the relief has started to come, but they have complained that it is a little bit too late.
You will get a bulldozer crossing in front of me in a second, and as soon as he passes here, I will show you -- I will show you this house here that was leveled. This is the home of an elderly couple who lived here.
We are told by relatives that the couple got out in front of the storm. They are fine, but their house is pretty much completely destroyed. It looks like a total loss. Some of the couple's relatives are here to try to get some possessions and bring them out loaded on to a van there.
There is a cabinet here, and a couple of items there. Just down the street, I talked to a woman who was talking to us from the top floor of her parent's house and she talked to us about their sense of loss here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY GRISWOLD-TRAINA, STATEN ISLAND RESIDENT: My parents are elderly and my father has a bad heart. I have not brought him down to see the wreckage. I have been showing him pictures. I am getting what little memories they have left. They have nothing left on the front floor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: And you know some of these residents have flood insurance, but other people here have told us they don't have flood insurance. So a lot of the people here are kind of waiting in anticipation for their insurance companies to weigh in and tell them what to do and don't cover in this situation.
In the meantime, there is a lot of community work being done here. Just down the street yesterday, there is a whole bank of clothing and other items that people locally just donated on their own. So this community is really starting to band together and just trying to pick up the pieces here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That is a good thing. Just another word about FEMA because overall FEMA's response has been positive, so once word went out on CNN yesterday that FEMA's help was needed, what happened, Brian?
TODD: Well, you know, we did have some government officials, and state officials and others talking about the fact that, yes, relief is coming here. They had given an indication that FEMA was at least going to be on the ground if it had not been on the ground in some measure already.
So there was some assurance, here comes another apparatus like a forklift coming by me here. So there was some assurance that Red Cross and FEMA and others were going to be here as of yesterday. Again, we didn't see much of FEMA or Red Cross presence, but again, Carol, you know, you don't want to start throwing blame around where they don't deserve it. Because I can tell you that the travel situation, just the transportation getting on to Staten Island yesterday and today is very problematic. Roads are blocked. Long lines of cars for gas and roads closed. It is very difficult to move around here. There's also a lot of traffic snarls so the logistics of getting entities here, government agencies here to help out is probably very difficult.
COSTELLO: Brian Todd, reporting live from Staten Island this morning.
Final jobs report before the election and you could just it was -- not worse only slightly better. We are joined by the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You are taking a live look at Franklin County, Ohio, Hilliard, Ohio, right where the Franklin County Fairgrounds are, the President is expected to speak in just about 8 minutes. Of course, when President Obama gets behind that podium, we will take you there live.
As you know, we have been talking about the jobs report all this morning, the last report to come out before voters go to the polls on Tuesday. The number of jobs added, 171,000. That is better than expected. But the unemployment rate inched up to 7.9 percent.
Alan Krueger is the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Thanks for being here this morning.
ALAN KRUEGER, CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: My pleasure.
COSTELLO: How would you characterize this report?
KRUEGER: I think today's report together with other information that is coming in show us a picture of an economy that is healing. We are making progress in recovering from the deep problems that were created by the recession back in 2008.
In the last year, we have added 2.1 million jobs and that is more than the year before, which is 1.9 million. In the last year, the unemployment rate has dropped by a full percentage point.
So I think it is important that we build on this progress by doing things like extending the middle-class tax cuts, which the Senate has passed and the President has been urging the House to follow suit and pass so that the middle-class families don't have a $2,000 tax increase coming next year.
COSTELLO: I think that when voters look at these numbers, if they look at these numbers, they see an economy recovering rather sluggishly and they don't think much about these numbers after that, because it is all in how people feel, right? It is in their perception of what is happening in the country. Isn't that your biggest challenge to convince people that the economy is getting better? How do you do that?
KRUEGER: You know, I think that people have a pretty sophisticated view of the economy. I think they understand that recession that the country went through in 2008, early 2009 was like any other recession that we have seen that we had a financial crisis, a housing bubble. We had severe problems to recover from that we had inadequate income growth for middle class families for a decade before the recession. I think people understand that these problems were a long time in the making.
They want see us make progress on them. They want to see us have a plan to dig our way out of these problems. I think that is what the record over the last four years shows. Over the last 32 months, we have added 5.4 million jobs. It is not enough given how many jobs we lost in the recession that began back in 2008. But it shows that we are headed on a much better path than we have been on.
COSTELLO: You put out a statement after this jobs report came out saying the economy is continuing to heal, but Mitt Romney came out with a statement of his own. He said this jobs report is a sad reminder that our economy is not yet recovered. He actually says that there are 23 million people struggling for work. Where does that number come from?
KRUEGER: You know, if you look at the path of unemployment. Unemployment has come down from a high of 10 percent to below 8 percent now. More and more people are finding jobs. The reason why the unemployment rate is falling is because job growth has increased.
So these signs and I can tell you as an economist these are signs that the economy is healing from the very deep problems that had taken years to build up and resulted in the recession back in 2008.
COSTELLO: But there are still a vast number of underemployed people, and a vast number of people who have quit looking for work altogether, what do you do about those people?
KRUEGER: Well, look, we want the build on the progress that has been made over the last three and a half years. That is why the President has proposed extending the middle class tax cuts. That is why he has taken administrative actions to make it easier for families to refinance their mortgages and has been pressing Congress to extend that type of access for refinancing ability to more and more families. That is why he has supported giving more funding to state and local governments so that they can keep more teachers on the job. Those are the kinds of concrete efforts that independent economists say will created a additional jobs.
And certainly there is a lot of more work that needs to be done, but we want to build on this progress and we want keep at it until everybody who wants to find a job can find one.
COSTELLO: Alan Krueger, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it. KRUEGER: Thank you.
COSTELLO: I want to head out to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where there is a Romney event about to take place in just about 30 minutes. Jim Acosta is standing by. Where are you, Jim?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we are now rolling en route to the Romney campaign event. I am going to hold on for dear life right now. We are on the press bus following the other press buses that are en route to this event that is going to be happening in Wisconsin.
Within the hour you just mentioned a few moments ago that you were talking with the head of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger talking about the jobs report that came out this morning.
As you mentioned, Mitt Romney came out with a statement this morning saying that this report shows that the economy is still at a standstill. We will hear more of that from the GOP nominee in his remarks later on this morning when he speaks to a crowd gathered in Wisconsin.
I can also tell you, Carol, this is also when Mitt Romney is expected to give his closing arguments. I talked to a senior Romney adviser last night who said that, yes, this will indeed happen at this event.
And that Mitt Romney will be framing the big choice this adviser calls it between change and the status quo, a new course or another four years like the last four years.
You probably heard some talking points in there, Carol, so that is what we will be hearing from Mitt Romney in a few moments from now. And then we will be heading to battleground state of Ohio and guess who will be at the final event this evening when Mitt Romney takes the stage with --
COSTELLO: My gosh, we are -- now that is a tease. Jim Acosta, who? You froze, who?
ACOSTA: -- on the campaign trail, that is right.
COSTELLO: OK, well his image froze on the bus. We will get the answer for you after the break. We will also take you back to Hilliard, Oohio, where the President is about to speak.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: OK, we have the answer for you. Mitt Romney's final campaign event will be in Westchester, Ohio. That is in Republican country down in South Western Ohio and his special guest will be the Ryans, the Romney kids and Kid Rock. Now you know.
It's 23 minutes past the hour. It is almost over. In just four days, Americans will choose the President. The race is so close and it could come down to a few thousand votes spread out over a handful of toss-up states like Nevada, where a recent poll from American Research Group finds the President with a razor-thin lead, 49-47 percent. As Miguel Marquez found out, Nevada is betting on an economic recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here we are top of the stratosphere in Vegas. About 70 percent of the votes in the state are right here in Clark County as this county goes, so goes Nevada.
(voice-over): In a city that fell harder and faster than any place in the country. This better be a very close election. The stratosphere like all of Vegas suffered the worst of the recession.
(on camera): At some point you had to make a decision either go big or stay home or shutdown?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was sort of the pieces, yes.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The Vegas landmark sunk more than $20 million into upgrades including a new restaurant and that sky-jump thing, and most importantly, more than 100 new jobs.
(on camera): Do you think Las Vegas is through the worst of it?
PAUL HOBSON, GENERAL MANAGER, STRATOSPHERE CASINO HOTEL: It feels like it. You know, I mean, I drive to work every day and I see stuff going on that I haven't seen in a little while.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Things like construction and homes being built in a place that once had the nation's highest foreclosure rate. That the decline and rise in Vegas by a sort of entree index.
(on camera): At the low point of the recession, how many were you doing and now?
RICK GIFFE, EXECUTIVE CHEF, STRATOSPHERE CASINO HOTEL: Before we were doing 400 and now between 400 and 700, big recovery.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Comedy icon and Clark County voter, Louie Anderson who does four shows a week at the Palace Station -- says the city is struggling back, but he knows just how torn the country is.
LOUIE ANDERSON, COMEDIAN: I think it is hard to be excited about Obama if you have not worked. I love Obama. I understand the appeal of Romney in this situation.
MARQUEZ: Like voters everywhere, he is tired of the campaign.
ANDERSON: Obama has been here more than Celine Dion has.
MARQUEZ: But hopeful that results not politics tops the agenda come January.
ANDERSON: If we're going to have the great county we had once, this is not going to be a Democrat or Republican thing. This is going to be in every single American thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: A lot of Americans can relate to what Louie Anderson is saying. Miguel Marquez joins us from Las Vegas. I was in Las Vegas not so long ago. I know how hard it was hit by the recession, but it sounds like things are coming back. The question is how strong is the recovery right now?
MARQUEZ: Yes. This town is starting to glitter again, but not as glittery as it was. So maybe the most important statistic I've heard over the last couple of days comes from the county -- Clark County, which has 12.3 percent unemployment at the moment.
Housing prices for the first time since 2007 have inched up 1 percent. Businesses are starting to hire again here at the Stratosphere where they brought in more than 100 people. Hotels that have been stuck and sitting for a year without being built.
One is 70 percent finished just to my right. They are going to start that one up again. So things are starting to move in the right direction -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, I thought that you were going the jump again on top of the Stratosphere thing.
MARQUEZ: We have the figure out how to do that live. Yes, that would be cool.
COSTELLO: That would be cool. I'd love to do that. Miguel Marquez live from Las Vegas. Thanks so much. We will take you back to Hilliard, Ohio for President Obama after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: When it comes to the national conversation on the election, you probably won't find more heated opinions than on talk radio. Rush Limbaugh one of the best known names in the industry. A man some consider the de facto leader of the Republican Party, but how much of an impact does he or any other host have at the ballot box?
Joining me now are men from both sides of the aisle. Joe Madison is in Washington. He is the host of "The Joe Madison Show" on Sirius XM Radio. He leans left. Hi.
JOE MADISON, HOST, "THE JOE MADISON SHOW": Hi.
COSTELLO: And in a -- and in Portland we have Lars Larson, the host of "The Lars Larson Show". He leans right. Welcome to the both of you.
LARS LARSON, HOST, "THE LARS LARSON SHOW": Thank you.
MADISON: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: It's terrific to have you here. So Lars, let's start with you. Is Limbaugh's influence overestimated?
LARSON: Oh I don't think so. Most of the talk radio talks to 30 million or 40 million Americans every single day and we have the luxury of a lot more time, because most of us have hours on the air to discuss issues, dissect them and talk about context and awful a lot of what's reported in American is done by -- like it or not, Carol -- I hate to be personal on this but liberal media and what happens is most of America gets that news and they need a little context to fit it into.
Like today's jobs numbers that have to be looked at in the context of what's really going on in the country. Without that context the data itself doesn't mean much, so we give people that additional point of view. And on my show I always say naysayers go first.
So if friends or fans of the President call me up and want to explain why they love four years of plus eight percent unemployment only relieved recently, I let them do it. And then we have a lively debate and the audience gets to hear both sides so it's pretty valuable for the voters to able to absorb that.
COSTELLO: And Joe, what do you say? I mean, do talk radio show hosts --
MADISON: Well I'll tell you, oh yes and I have been for over 30 years and I totally disagree. Look, this is how talk radio works. And the reason it works this way is it's much like music. If you're a country and western star, you're going to listen to country and western music. If you like Motown or R&B, you're going to listen to the R&B.
And if somebody throws some country western on a R&B station or if somebody throw some R&B on a country and western station, your audience tends to react.
Let's be honest most people who watch Fox, listen to Fox because they want to hear what Fox has to say. I hate to bring it up, but that's what they do because that's exactly why they are there. If they listen to Rush Limbaugh, it's because they want to hear what Rush Limbaugh has to say and usually 99 percent of his audience agrees with him. And I'll just tell you very honestly.
LARSON: God bless you, Joe, but you are wrong. Carol --
(CROSSTALK)
MADISON: When -- when -- and I will just say, excuse me, I did not interrupt you and that's something else they do a lot. But here is the point I'm making.
LARSON: Yes, we do.
MADISON: When they listen to my show, they want to hear what I have to say and I can guarantee you and I know why I'm not wrong, because 99 percent of my audience wants to hear what I have to say and most of them tend to agree with each other.
COSTELLO: Now, you see, Lars -- I have to --
LARSON: That's how talk radio has worked. COSTELLO: Well -- well, let me -- let me put it to you this way, Lars, Rush Limbaugh.
LARSON: Sure.
COSTELLO: Lars you don't go into the voting booth with voters. They are in there alone, they make their own decisions, and frankly I think voters are smarter than that. They can make their own decisions. They are not lemmings.
LARSON: Oh but Carol -- Carol I don't know and I've never, I reject the idea, that it's pushed mostly by the left. That people listen to the conservative radio are robots who take their instructions from Rush or me. What I do is I provide them information.
I trust that the Americans are smart enough to make their own decisions, and I would point out that Joe, God bless you, does not seem to know his audience very well, the audience research that's done on my show says that one-third of the people --
(CROSSTALK)
MADISON: What a freaking insult? What a freaking insult. What an insult. No, how dare you tell me after 30 years --
LARSON: Hold on, I'm going to -- let me finish Carol --
(CROSSTALK)
MADISON: How dare you tell me after 30 years on my own show, and I have had my own show for 30 years and you are telling me that I don't know my audience?
LARSON: Yes.
MADISON: What an insult.
(CROSSTALK)
LARSON: Yes I'm telling that's true.
MADISON: How arrogant can you be? That's arrogant. That's arrogant, oh, please.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Now, finish it, Lars, OK, Joe -- let Lars finish.
LARSON: Let me tell Joe something. Joe may not understand this but the audience research done by people who are not on the radio, they are the research people say a third of the people who listen to my show are progressives and liberals who listen mostly to hear what the enemy is saying, but they are listening.
That means when I talk to them, a third of those people do not plan to vote for Mitt Romney. They don't plan to vote for Republicans or conservatives. They are listening to hear the other side, and believe it or not, Joe, I listen to the other side. I listen to liberal NPR funded with my tax dollars.
I watch CNN and I absorb that information because I'm smart enough to make my own decisions and I assume the same about my audience.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: OK, Joe.
LARSON: If you believe that 99 percent of your audience --
COSTELLO: OK, wait, wait, OK. Lars, one second. Let Joe respond.
MADISON: Look, look here is -- here is where the insult is.
(CROSSTALK)
LARSON: Joe don't know.
MADISON: The insult, I'm sorry, let me finish. The insult is when you tell me after 30 plus years on the air that I don't know my audience that's an insult.
(CROSSTALK)
LARSON: You don't know that a lot of the conservatives listen to you?
(CROSSTALK)
MADISON: Excuse me, I'm again -- it's an insult. I know me. I know my audience. And I know that facts. I don't totally disagree with what your audience might do, I'm not sitting here saying I don't know your audience.
Let's get back to the point. The reality is that most people listen to talk radio and they listen because they want to hear what the personalities have to say, and usually, they want to hear what callers are thinking out there.
Now, we get some people who obviously are on the other side, nothing is absolute. But I'm telling you anybody that knows talk radio knows that most progressives, most liberals tend to listen to progressive liberals. They listen to the Ed Schultz and the Tom Hartman. They listen --
(CROSSTALK)
LARSON: I have never said otherwise.
(CROSSTALK)
MADISON: To my good -- to my good friend, my good friend Steve Harvey. They listen to the folks on Sirius XM because they want to hear a perspective that they agree with and that's unfortunately how this election is divided. LARSON: Well, Carol --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Well, let me -- let me steer the conversation in a different direction, because I am serious about this. Like, when I go out in the public, I hear a lot of people who are just plain tired of this election, they want it to be over. What are you hearing, Lars --
LARSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: from your audience? Are they excited to go vote? Do they want the election to be over?
LARSON: Well, they want it to be over, but they want a result that is going to be good for America. And obviously Joe and I disagree about what's going to be good for America. I think four more years of Barack Obama is going to be terrible for America. I think that we do need a different kind of leadership in this country and different solutions to the country's problems. Are people anxious for the decision to be made, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: But it's part to what you're listeners are -- yes, they are.
MADISON: Well let me tell you, let me -- let me tell you what my audience is talking about, because I do know my audience. My audience is very concerned --
(CROSSTALK)
LARSON: You think.
MADISON: Because we spent four hours today talking about voter intimidation at the polls like in Iowa where the Romney --
(CROSSTALK)
LARSON: Oh, please.
MADISON: You know if I keep getting interrupted, then we're not having a conversation. Like the people in Iowa where the Romney people were telling them they had to have voter ID's and Iowa doesn't even have a voter ID law.
My people, I'm telling you, we've spent the last few months and we've done a hell of a job at it at telling people to go vote early. That's why I know my audience because all you have to do is go to Cleveland, to Dayton, to Florida and you see long lines of my audience and other folk who are on my side standing in line four or five hours. That's why I know my audience, that's why I know the influence that talk radio has had.
(CROSSTALK) COSTELLO: OK.
LARSON: Carol, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: I think -- I think this really illustrates the election this year. So I want you guys to standby. We're going to take a short break. But the President is going to speak in just few minute, and I'd like to get your input Lars, and your input Joe, so stick around.
LARSON: Sure.
COSTELLO: Here's a live shot in Hilliard, Ohio, in Franklin County, Ohio. The President is due to speak at any moment now.
We're going to take a break, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Forty-one minutes past the hour.
The race for the White House kicked off in Iowa and it could end in Iowa. It's one of those eight toss-up states that could determine the election and it's the state the President won comfortably in 2008.
The latest NBC New/"Wall Street Journal"/Marist poll shows the President with a 6 percentage point lead. Right now Iowa's employment picture looks better than most. But as Poppy Harlow found out, the economy is still on many voters' minds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN HARBERTS, CEO, KRYPTON ENGINEERED METALS: We basically started this in a little 24 by 24 rundown garage.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): That was 33 years ago.
(on camera): How's business?
HARBERTS: Soft.
HARLOW: You see, Kevin Harberts has watched his metal company fall and fall down 20 percent this year.
HARBERTS: Mid -- mid 2012, it started -- it started slowing down and it's been a -- it's been a downward trend ever since probably May.
HARLOW (on camera): But his Iowa isn't the Iowa the economic numbers illustrate. Largely spared by the housing crisis, reaping the benefits of a strong farming sector and unemployment well below the national average.
HARBERTS: I realize here we're not bad in Iowa, but our customer base is not basically in Iowa. HARLOW: It matters how California looks, it matters how Nevada looks, it matters how Virginia looks.
HARBERTS: Right.
SUE DVORSKY, CHAIRWOMAN, IOWA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: It is difficult for Mitt Romney to say this economy is in free fall. It is not.
HARLOW: Sue Dvorsky heads the Iowa Democratic Party.
(on camera): Unemployment rate here is pretty darn good, 5.2 percent one of the lowest in the country. The President won here by ten percentage points in the last election. My question to you Sue, why can't he lock it down right now, it's neck and neck.
DVORSKY: It is you know though, we actually feel like we are locking it down. We have been locking it down for two years.
CRAIG ROBINSON, FOUNDER, THEIOWAREPUBLICAN.COM: I think she is selling you something to be honest with you. I don't think it's on lockdown.
HARLOW: We found plenty of Iowans that aren't convinced by either campaign.
CHAD MORAREND, ROMNEY SUPPORTER: Fiscally I just don't see how we can sustain ourselves. I mean in Europe right now, I mean there's a big huge great empire countries and all of that, they're going bankrupt. It is going to be us.
HARLOW: Orthodontist Chad Morarend plans to vote for Romney but doesn't think his math adds up to erase the deficit.
MORAREND I don't think that either side has a plan for going ahead. It becomes kind of the lesser of two evils.
HARLOW: Back at Creighton Metals, Kevin Harberts says he can't plan a 2013 budget and certainly cannot hire.
HARBARTS: Our customers are slow. They're just no ordering.
HARLOW: He says like him; they're frozen, waiting to see who wins the election and whether we fall off the fiscal cliff.
HARBERTS: I need reassurance that we're going to take care of our debt problem. That we're going to help small business.
HARLOW: He says he will vote for Romney, but he there's little the next president can do without congress, and it pains him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is my dream. I mean I have everything invested this the company, and so, you know, my name is on the line with the banks, so I have to make it happen. My people are counting on me.
HARLOW: The economic numbers in Iowa tell a good story for the President, but plenty of people here worry about the big picture and neither campaign can take this state's six critical electoral votes for granted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Poppy Harlow joins us now from Cedar Falls, Iowa. Poppy, another thing that really matters is how enthusiastic people are to get to the polls to vote for their candidate. What are you seeing enthusiasm-wise in Iowa?
HARLOW: It's a great point, Carol. The common thread throughout my week here in Iowa has been that there is not a lot of enthusiasm on either side for these candidates in this race, especially when it comes down to their economic plans. I have had some people tell me "No, I don't think either has a plan to solve the debt crisis in this country. " They are not enthusiastic and that is a problem.
However, I have spoken to some Obama supporters here who are very hopeful that the President's plan, when it comes to education, training, and even Obamacare, they think that that is putting our country in the right direction. So those are what -- that's what I am hearing from the Obama supporters.
But this is a state that you know so well, Carol, here in the Midwest. It is about winning the hearts and minds of the middle class and getting the people out to the polls. Right now the numbers show us it is a very, very tight race and the candidates need every vote they can get -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Although I will say, Poppy, in states with early voting, there are long lines --
HARLOW: Yes.
COSTELLO: Some people are waiting up to an hour to vote, so that shows you somebody has enthusiasm.
HARLOW: Well, -- and I do want to tell you -- we can tell you that Iowa is expecting to break a record this year in terms of early voting. Over 40 percent they expect will vote early here. And I can also tell you that the Secretary of State has said, and what people here tell us is that generally more Democrats get out to vote early than Republicans do, so you are seeing a push here by the Romney campaign to get their supporters out to vote early, because that matters hugely here in the final count.
COSTELLO: Absolutely. Poppy Harlow, reporting live from Iowa this morning.
OK. Let's take you two campaign events going on right now. On the left, you see Hilliard, Ohio. President Obama will be speaking there at the Franklin County Fairgrounds. That is, you know, in Columbus country in the middle of the state.
And on your right, you will see West Allis, Wisconsin -- that's a Milwaukee suburb. Mitt Romney will soon be behind that podium and I am sure he will bring up the latest jobs report that came out at 8:30 Eastern this morning. That jobs reports shows 171,000 jobs created, but the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 7.9 percent. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: All right. Back to Hilliard, Ohio, and President Obama.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is good to be back. Can everybody give Judy a big round of applause for the great introduction? You know, Judy is an example of all of the incredible volunteers who have been involved in the campaign each and every day, knocking on doors, making phone calls. I love all of you and I'm grateful to all of you for all the great work you guys have done.
Give it up for your former governor, our great friend, Ted Strickland. Poor Ted has a cold and he is backstage, and he wanted to shake my hand, and he is sick, but he is still out campaigning, tirelessly. Now, I love you back. I am glad to be here.
(inaudible)
OBAMA: Now, you know -- I can tell this is a kind of rowdy crowd. All right. All right.
(CROWD CHANTING, "FOUR MORE YEARS")
OBAMA: Thank you. Well, listen, you know, for the past few days, all of us have been focused on one of the worst storms in our lifetimes, in our history. And I just got off the phone with my team, emergency management team, and got an update on what is happening in New Jersey and New York and Connecticut, West Virginia where there is a whole lot of snow.
You know, as a nation, we mourn those who were lost. You can only imagine what so many families are going through right now. And the message I have said every time I have talked to people back east is we stand with the people of New Jersey and New York and Connecticut every step of the way. Every step of the way in the hard weeks ahead. And there is a lot of work that is still remains to be done.
But we have also been inspired these last few days by heroes who are running into buildings, wading through water and the neighbors who are helping neighbors cope with tragedy. The leaders of different parties working together to fix what is broken.
A spirit that says no matter how bad the storm is, no matter how tough times are, we are all in this together. We rise or fall as one nation. As one people. And you know, that spirit is what's guided this country for more than two centuries, that idea that we are in this together. It has carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last 200-something years, but also the last four years.
In 2008, we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Today our businesses have created nearly 5.5 million new jobs. This morning we learned that companies hired more workers in October than at any time in the last eight months.
The auto -- the American auto industry is back on top. Home values and housing construction is on the rise. We are less dependent on foreign oil than any time in 20 years. Because the service and the sacrifice of the brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over. The war in Afghanistan is end ending. Al Qaeda has been decimated and Osama bin Laden is dead. We have made real progress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job, man.
OBAMA: This guy had a lot of coffee this morning. You are fired up. OK.
So, listen, hold on a second, right. We have made real progress, but we are here today, because we know we have more work to do. As long as there's a single American who wants a job and can't find one, as long as there are families working harder but falling behind, as long as there's a child anywhere in this country who's languishing in poverty and barred from opportunity, our fight goes on. We have got more work to do.
Our fight goes on, because this nation can't succeed without a growing and thriving middle-class. Our fight goes on because America always has done best when everybody has a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same rules. That is what we believe. That is why you elected me in 2008 and that is why I'm running for a second term as President of the United States of America.
(CROWD CHANTING "FOUR MORE YEARS")
OBAMA: Ohio, in four days you have a choice to make. And by the way, I think you may have noticed that everybody's paying a lot of attention to Ohio --- and rightfully so.
This is a choice not just between two candidates or two parties, but it is a choice between two fundamentally different visions of America. It is a choice of going back to the top-down policies that crashed our economy or advancing the kinds of policies that will make sure we have a strong and growing middle-class. That's the choice.
You know, as Americans, we honor the strivers and the dreamers and the risk-takers, the entrepreneurs, the small business people -- they're the folks who have always been the driving force behind our free enterprise system. And it has been the greatest engine of growth and prosperity the world has ever known.
But we also believe in this country that people succeed, people start businesses, people work well in businesses when they have a decent education, when they get a chance to learn new skills, and when we support research in the medical breakthroughs or new technologies. We think America is stronger when we can count on affordable health care and Medicare and Social Security. When there are rules to protect our kids from toxic dumping and mercury pollution.
We think the market works better when consumers are protected from the unscrupulous practices in the credit card industry or for mortgage lenders. And we believe that no politician in Washington should control health care choices that women can make for themselves. These are the things we believe.
Now, for eight years, we had a president who shared our beliefs and his name was Bill Clinton. His economic plan asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more so we can reduce our deficit and invest in the skills and ideas of our people. And at the time the Republican Congress and a senate candidate by the name of Mitt Romney said that Bill Clinton's plan would hurt the economy and kill jobs.
It turns out that the governor's math was just as bad back then as it was today because by the end of President Clinton's second term, America had created 23 million new jobs and incomes were up, and poverty was down and we had the biggest surplus in history instead of a deficit.
So we know the ideas that we believe in work. We know that their ideas don't work. For most of the last decade, we tried what they want to do, giving big tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans that we could not afford. We tried giving insurance companies and oil companies and Wall Street free rein to do whatever they pleased, and you know what we got? Falling incomes, record deficits, the slowest job growth in half a century, and an economic crisis that we have been cleaning up after for the last four years.
So, we know what we want to do works. We know what they want to do doesn't work. We know what we want to do grows our middle-class, and what they want to do squeezes the middle-class. We know that our strategy makes sure that we bring our deficit down in a balanced way and their strategy ends up shooting the deficit up.
So we know what the right choice is, but let's face it, Governor Romney is a very talented salesman. In this campaign, he is trying as hard as he can to repackage -- to repackage these same policies and offer them up as change. But we know what change looks like. And what the Governor is offering isn't it.
Giving more power back the biggest banks that's not change. Another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy, that's not change. Refusing to answer questions about the details of your policies until after the election, that is not change. We have seen that before. All right. We have seen that before.
Ruling out compromise by pledging to rubber stamp the Tea Party's agenda in Congress, that's not change. And by the way, when you try to change the facts, just because they are inconvenient to your campaign, that's definitely not change.
You know, trying to massage the facts, you know, that is not change. That's just -- we -- look, we have been seeing this out of Governor Romney and his friends over the last few weeks, right here in Ohio. You have got folks who work at the Jeep plant who have been calling their employers worried, asking is it true -- are our jobs being shipped to China? And the reason they are making these calls is because Governor Romney has been running an ad that says so. Except, it is not true.
Everybody knows, it's not true.
(END LIVE FEED)
