the white house! yay! >> but because dean's microphone picked up only dean's voice, the tv broadcast made him sound crazy. >> yay! >> that unfairly may have killed his campaign. even images can matter more than issues. this video is said to have hurt john kerry. this is said to have helped bill clinton. bill clinton. in the 1980 republican primary george bush had moment against ronald reagan, until in the debate in new hampshire, there was a moment where reagan looked strong. >> i am paying for this microphone. >> that moment helped change the campaign. >> some o some of them you can . >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull, lipstick. >> other ones, you got to depend on your candidate seizing a moment you didn't expect to happen. >> there you go again. >> most moments so far this election have been poorly phrased comments. >> if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. >> they'll put y'all back in chains. >> the media call those gaffes, but often the media don't know. when ed musky lost the '072 primary because he looked like he teared up defending his wife, everyone said candidates can't career, because that's week, but then in 2008 hillary clinton cried. >> you know, i have so many opportunities from this country. >> she began to tear up. >> don't want to fall backwards. >> she showed being human. >> you know, this is very personal for me. >> pundits pounced. >> people perceive that as weakness. >> yeah, i think they will and they should. >> makes her look like her campaign is in trouble. >> the day before showed clinton 10 points behind. the next day, she beat obama in the new hampshire primary. kind of comeback that new hampshire has just given me. >> she tears up and that moves 11 points in one day. >> she showed real authenticity, and i think voters were very much attracted to that. >> authenticity is rare in politics, and in presidential campaigns the consultants strive to control everything. >> this is all fear. >> democratic bob beckel has counseled hundreds of candidates. >> it's theatre of politics, trying to get the people to come in and take a look and see if they like your play. >> here in cleveland, the romney campaign's preparing a play, trying to get lots of people to watch. >> only way to attract them to the theatre is if it looks good. >> tighten that out a little bit. >> just one presidential campaign, in the fall, in the general election, involves 400 people, advance people, setting up a stage. >> mike check. 1-2. >> a presidential campaign stop involves a lot of hard work. >> most are paid to do this. some are volunteers. >> does anybody have any questions? >> the planning starts days earlier. >> you send people driving around small towns in america, and asking people, hey, can we use your -- can we use your campus green? >> mel ritter is the director of candidate operations for mitt romney. >> let's get to work. >> campaign staffs try to make sure the right number of people show up. hillary clinton's presidential campaign was run by patty solis-doyle. >> you make calls to campaign supporters, make robocalls. >> they eventies advertise in the sky. >> ready for the message, then n mittromney.com/ticket. >> the football stadium seats about 80,000 people. only problem, romney had 8,000 in the crowd. >> it's ritter's job to make that doesn't happen. >> six really talented advance people on the ground for five days. >> we're painting part of the backdrop that you see from the riser. finish that late in the night. >> campaigns obsess about every sign, every camera angle. >> you have to see the campaigns through the lens of a camera. if you can't do that, it gets left on field. >> we'll take cameras in there, set them up on our risers that we set for the press, look at it, make sure the angles are right. >> behind that group of people is romney/ryan. >> signs are always in the perfect position for the television cameras or still photographers to pick them up. >> because of how cameras work, we have something here like 40, 50-foot banners cover buildings and get in a tight shot. >> it's the first thing he walks past that people say as he makes the pivot toward the stage. >> what difference does it make? >> visuals matter so much. campaigns come down to photography. campaigns need light and sound. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next president of the united states! >> keep it up, keep it up. >> now kill it, kill it. >> if we fail, the message stays here with 2,000 or 3,000 people in cleveland, ohio. the goal is to make sure it translates to as many folks as possible. >> ritter monitors the events as they happen. >> hey, will, you're live on all the cables. can i get more hand signs to that crowd behind the gov? >> setting up one event may take weeks and yet -- >> it may last ten minutes. >> then they do it again. 1:00, 2:00 in the morning, we'll do it again. it heads to the next truck and it heads to the next site. >> do you ever sleep or smell bad? >> we went three days with no sleep, no showers. >> always with the fear that one simple mistake, even a poorly chosen image can destroy a campaign. ask michael did you cactus. >diddukakis.>> he didn't want ta helmet. he understood that that was wasn't going to be a distinguish television shot. >> consultant steve murphy worked with dukakis. >> the answer came back, we've arranged for you to ride in a tank, they won't let you ride in a tank without a helmet because it's unsafe. he relented. he should have stuck with his instincts. >> that moment turned into this commercial. >> now he wants to be our commander in chief. america can't afford that risk. >> do ads like that really work? the consultants think they do. >> three, four, five -- >> they still rave about this ad. it ran only once, but was talked about so much on tv, they say it changed all campaigns. it was the first negative ad to use fear and raw emotion. >> 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [explosion] >> these are the stakes. we must either love each other or we must die. >> vote or die. pretty relevant. >> but pretty unfair, a smear on goldwater. >> oh, jeez. >> medicare mckinnon worked on the bush campaign which ran this ad showing the candidates consoling 9/11 victims. >> our president took ashley in his arms and just embraced her, and it was at that moment that we saw ashley's eyes fill up with tears. >> come on, this is the presidency. you're playing this music and we're supposed to vote for this guy because she tears up. >> that's exactly what they did. this ad aired in ohio in late 2004. it was absolutely pivotal. >> it's morning again in america. today more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country's history. >> beckel worked for reagan's opponent at the time. >> i see this ad come on on the television. it's a farmer and son in a beautiful pasture. they put their hands over their hearts. i stood up and put my hand over my heart. the tagline is, re-elect ronald reagan. i said, are you kidding me that? that is blatant, blatant and good. you may think it's corny, but let's face it, you think everything's corny, okay, but if you can get an image like that it really matters. >> ed rollins was reagan's campaign manager. >> two kinds of monitoring you make in a campaign. one is an intellectual argument and one is an emotional argument. >> when beckle ran mondale's campaign, he saw this ad. >> where's the beef? >> wendy's was trying to convince people their hamburgers had more beef. >> where's the beef? >> you were home watching tv with your girlfriend and saw this ad. >> yeah. i saw the ad. my girlfriend said to me, that reminds me of gary hart. what's he all about? all of a sudden, it clicked. >> this is not polling, just a comment from a girlfriend. >> that's right. >> you probably liked her too much. >> no, no. i didn't actually. that triggered in my mind something that made some sense, we could put on the next poll. we put it on a poll, it tested well. >> so mondale used it in a debate. >> where's the beef? >> wendy's spent a hundred millions dollars on an ad campaign to give me an opening for a line. i want to thank them very much. >> that made a difference? >> it changed the race overnight. it confirmed in people's minds something that had been on their minds, which was is this guy really up to it? does he have the experience to do it? and hart, who had been on such an offensive all of a sudden has to be on the defensive, and he doesn't handle it very well. >> there were several things that hart didn't handle well, but that's another story. >> he was reeling. we came right back in with another punch, which was the red phone. >> the most awesome, powerful responsibility in the world lies in the hand that picks up this phone. >> again, they used emotion to sell the idea that gary hart was style, not substance. >> vote as if the future of the world is at stake. >> decades later -- >> it's 3:00 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep, but there's a phone in the white house and it's ringing. >> hillary clinton's consultants used the same theme to attack barack obama. >> who do you want answering the phone? >> in this case it was barack obama, because he answered the red phone at 3:00 in the morning. said, gary heart answered the red phone at 2:00 in the morning. did they steal it from us? absolutely. >> today's ads are more likely to be direct attacks. >> barack obama, what a disappointment. >> americans say we don't like these attacks, but they do work. in the swing states, they now run all the time. >> if you're sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me so am i. >> i'm barack obama. >> i'm mitt romney. >> a proved this message. >> however most of you won't see those messages. you've been excluded. i'll explain why next. >> political parties spend millions trying to persuade you to vote for their candidate, but there's more to it than just convincing you. first they obsess about whether you are worth convincing. >> the whole art of politics in presidential blocks particularly is to target those people who are with you at the beginning and leave them alone until you need to get them to vote. target those who are going to be against you and don't stir them up, and focus everything you can on those who are persuadable. >> that may be 10% of the people, 20%? >> yeah. used to be 20%. this year particularly it's down to 10%. the art of finding that 10% is key to all this. >> no one did that better than karl rove. he pioneered what he called microtargeting. that was credited with winning the 2004 election. he compiled reams of information about people. >> if they own a gun, what magazines they read, what car they own. >> we had a microtargeted voter file in which we had up 225 pieces of household level information about them. we knew what kind of car they had. >> republicans today most often drive ford mustangs, audition, mercedes. democrats are more likely to own a honda civic hybrid, volvo, or nissan leaf. they watch tv shows, conservatives like "dancing with the stars" and modern family. >> you won't have to pay taxes for the rest of your life. >> liberals are more likely to watch "law and order" or "30 rock." >> tonight tgf will not be the worst thing on television. it will be john stossel. who's with me? >> yeah, not surprised that liberals watch that. >> what difference does that make? >> it tells you things like if you want to reach an independent swing woman voter, buy the house and garden channel. if you want to reach a republican-leaning but less likely to vote independent swing man, go buy the golf channel. >> rove did research on blacks who might vote for bush and found many are christians who watch these tv preachers. >> now in the name of jesus, i command this debt out of my life. >> so rove placed advertisements there. >> in ohio, in 2000, bush got 2% of the african american vote. in 2004, he got 16%. we were able to identify a group of african american voters who, though, their history was overwhelming democrat, we had clues that gave us a sense they might be reachable. >> this year consultants want to reach not just swing voters, but swing voters in these 10 states. >> you take a map of the united states, and you just cross out states. just cross them out. say we can't win here. >> the rest of us, most of us, don't really count. we live in the wrong state. i live in new york. my state's electoral votes will go to obama, no doubt. doesn't matter what i do. or if all new york swing voters shift their vote. if you live in texas, same deal. doesn't matter who you vote for. texas will go to romney. >> why campaign in the other states? >> we don't. why waste our time? >> they do go there, but just to raise money from rich people. otherwise the consultants ignore 40 of 50 states. >> this is not about a national campaign. it's about persuadable voters in a few states. that's what matters. >> tod today campaign managers copied rove's strategy. first step, identify your key voters, and then get them to vote. >> your only priority today is getting people to vote. >> they call it got tv. >> have you had a chance to vote yet? >> hundreds and hundreds of volunteers to knock on their door, you have to call them and remind them today is caucus day, today is voting day, call them once, call them twice. >> i'm calling to remind you today is election day. >> you call them again? >> sure. you make sure they know where their polling place is. >> it boils down to this one day. you have to make sure your voters get out. >> hi. my name is annie. >> today the phone system's automated, a volunteer presses a button, a phone automatically dials the likely supporter, and her name pops up along with a script. >> have you had a chance to vote yet? >> the campaign called these people months before. >> this is a close race. we appreciate you voting. >> the computer kept track of who said they'd vote for their candidate. then on election day you call them again to make sure they did. >> you did? well, wonderful. thank you, mrs. casey. >> if you suspect they might not vote -- >> show up with a bus, a personal car? >> sure. >> people don't just vote anymore, you pick them up and take them there. >> yeah. it's an art form. >> when we return, i'll show you how campaigns manipulate people like me. but mr. single miles can't join his friends because he's getting hit with blackouts. shame on you. now he's stuck in a miniature nightmare. oh, thank you. but, with e capital one venture card... you can fly any airline, any flight, any time. double miles you can actually use. what's in your wallet? alec jr? it was a gift. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you engineer a true automotive breakthrough? ♪ you give it bold new styling, unsurpassed luxury and nearly 1,000 improvements. introducing the redesigned 2013 glk. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. the economy needs manufacturing. mhines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's puttg more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy his year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real thin... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ for real. ...that make a real difference. customer erin swenson bought so, i'm happy. today. sales go up... i'm happy. it went out today... i'm happy. what if she's not home? 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[ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. >> sometimes i feel sorry for presidential candidates. i feel their strain because they have to face us, the media. >> governor romney! >> mr. president! >> look at the candidates smile. >> you also said that you are america's most tactless prince since carter. >> he smiled. they rarely show anger. they just keep smiling and laughing. >> thank you, thank you. >> don't get the impression that you aroused my anger. >> often they don't like the reporters. >> one can only be angry with those he respects. >> i bet mitt romney doesn't respect the reporters who followed him when he went to a memorial site. despite the somber nation of the moment, reporters shouted at him? >> do you feel your gaffes have overshadow your campaign? >> the candidates smile and repeat the message of the day. reporters feel as conduits for the message. >> their useless is what they can do to carry a message to the voters. outside of that they're useless. >> do you have a message of the day so we simple minded reporters don't get accused by too many messages? >> i would never call you simple-minded, but yes. >> to build that bridge to the 21st century. >> in 1996, bill clinton said, "build a bridge" 22 times. >> to build a bridge to help our parents raise their children. to build that bridge. bridge. bridge. bridge. bridge. >> all right already. i would think a candidate would say to you, you want me to repeat myself that much? i'd look like a more ron. >> they do say that. the really good ones get it and do it. >> yes, you can't. >> you don't want to do, stay home. >> it's ice-cold and tasty. >> we follow them every. >> what you got? > >> groceries. >> mitt romney is followed by sometimes a plane, more often a bus. the pack call it living in a bubble. nicole follows romney around the world. >> thank you, thank you. >> how many cities have you been to? >> i don't know how many cities i've been in. >> lost count? >> i have dolph lost count. it's not uncommon to lose track of time, day, time zone. i do know -- >> wake up, you don't know where you are? >> the room always looks like the same, but the bathroom door is in a different place. >> they video anything that might be interesting. when i was her age, it took four beefy union workers to do what she's doing. >> what do you have with you? >> a camera, all the cables that you need, the microphones, the tripod, and your personal bag. kind of like a satellite truck in a box. >> it's a tough job for reporters and the campaign staff. >> the emotional and physical toll that running a presidential campaign takes on people is enormous. you're working 18 hours a day, seven days a week. you've got a candidate on the phone every hour, calling and complaining about something. you just want to tell them to shut up and get back to work. it also requires having an understanding wife or you're divorced, you know. in my case, i got divorced. >> if you like vegetables, it's probably not for you. if you like sleep it might not be for you, but it's fascinating. >> the 18-hour days don't seem like 18-hour days. they seem like it happens like that. >> nicole gets just four or five hours of sleep. she's usually up around 5:00 in the morning. by 6:00 a.m -- >> you have already received probably about three or four emails from the campaign, guessing you an idea of what the messaging will be for the day. >> the pac wants something new or a mistake. >> i've now been in 57 states. >> so candidates try to stick to the script. >> for an economy that's built to last. >> for an economy that's built to last. that's built to last. >> nicole says she doesn't mind hearing the same speech again and again. >> when you know the speech so well in and out, it makes it that much easier to pinpoint when there's something new. it's almost like your ears perk up. >> the whole pack perks up, what was that? >> you see all of us furiously typing or tweeting. >> sometimes campaigns play with reporters, use us for their purposes. get a joy in fooling the media? >> yes, but more importantly in a campaign you want to have your own narrative at your own time. >> my running mate, dick cheney. >> before bush made this announcement, rove wanted to mislead the media. >> we had a guy on the campaign who was a leaker. >> how do you know he was a leaker? >> well, because he was a leaker. -- said, what's going on with the vice presidency? i said, look, big secret, don't tell anybody, but bush has decided to go with jack danforth of missouri. >> the media ran with the false story. >> felt sort of bad, but i wasn't lying to the media, i was just giving misdirection to the guy who leaked. >> lying to the guy? >> well, yeah. it helps tell a story. when you want to have the story told by an evening anchor or the story told by the candidate who expresses in front of the cameras with as few filters as possible why he made this choice. >> four years later the "new york post" said john kerry had picked richard gephardt to be his running mate. this was of course a mistake. kerry had picked john edwards. john edwards turned out to be another kind of mistake, but that's another story. what the media reported even fooled gephardt's campaign manager. >> i called up dick gephardt, and i said, dick, i know you can't talk about this. he said, it never happened. i said, dick, i understand you have to deny it to me and everybody else. he said, steve, it didn't happen. >> why wouldn't you believe him when he said so-so emphatically, there was no meeting? >> you absolutely must keep the conversation going on with the nominee and -- >> lying is okay in politics, running for office? >> lying is not okay unless you're asked an inappropriate question. >> politicians have always lied. >> i'm not a crook. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman. >> the media used to give candidates privacy. even keep their secrets. they rarely pictured fdr in his wheelchair. they kept jfk's sexual activities secret. but now everything's game. that's a good thing. even though we reporters are obnoxious. >> the next time i prefer you let me finish my statement before you ask that question. >> next, you ready for presidential debates? we'll show you secrets behind the debates. >> there you go again. 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[ male announcer ] humana. with thermacare heatwraps. thermacare works differently. it's the only wrap with patented heat cells that penetrate deep to relax, soothe, and unlock tight muscles. for up to 16 hours of relief, try thermacare. starts with ground beef, unions, and peppers baked in a ketchup glaze with savory gravy and mashed russet potatoes. what makes stouffer's meatloaf best of all? that moment you enjoy it at home. stouffer's. let's fix dinner. >> for months mitt romney and president obama have attacked each other, talked past each other, but three times this fall they face each other. debates can make a big difference. >> you'll never have as many people watching your two candidates together in a presidential election as you have on debate night. >> the campaigns can't control the debate the way they control everything else. >> no matter what you do as a manager to get them ready, he's still got to step in the arena. it's just two of them. you don't know. >> it's three agencies of government when i get there that are gone. commerce, education, and the -- what's the third one there? let's see. >> one brain freeze can end your campaign. >> the -- umm. >> commerce? commerce. and let's see -- >> rick perry was a serious contender until this debate. >> oops. >> forgetting is bad, and looking bad is bad. in the very first tv debate, richard nixon refused to put on makeup. it hurt him. nixon later said -- >> more important than what you say is how you look on television. >> so campaigns obsess over details. when ronald reagan debated walter mondale, rollins and beckel were the opposing campaign managers. >> do you remember how high the podiums would be? >> days. >> we had days negotiating. >> the color of the room. >> what difference would it make to the candidate what color the room was? >> because in certain conditions, certain colors work for certain candidates. >> because mondale was shorter than reagan -- >> we wanted more distance between the two podiums. we debated between 7 1/2 feet and 9 feet for a day and a half. >> the first debate came, and reagan struggled. >> 2/3 of the defense budget pays for pay and salary -- or pay and passengers. >> he looked tired and ragged. the general observation was they just spent too much time with a 70-year-old guy trying to beat every factoid into his brain. >> people said ronald reagan is too old for the office. >> you're already the oldest in history. >> in the next debate, reagan was ready for that. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i'm not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> he delivers the line, and there's an impish sense of humor that comes out. you see the curl in his lips, and he's making fun of himself, and he delivers a great line. mondale can't help himself. he's simultaneously laughing and at the same time knowing i've just been taken to the cleaners. >> i turned to the guy next to me, the deputy, and said my race is over. >> just from that? >> yeah. i walked away. >> most people only remember one thing about the 1998 vice presidential debate, what senator lloyd benson said when dan quayle compared his experience to jfk's. >> senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> here's later in debate, al gore walked up to bush. >> al gore tries to come over and be the bully and get in his face. bush doesn't say anything. just looks at him, smiles, gives him the head wink, and goes on. >> i >> that was it. it just -- you know, it just absolutely devastated gore. >> you watch him go. >> yeah. we all revert to our junior high mentality, you know, when our team scored. yeah, you know! >> most people don't know is that bush had been prepared. >> jud gregg, who had played the role of al gore in the debate prep, had seen him pull this trick. he said to bush, be prepared, he's going to come and get in your face. we all dismissed at the time, but sure enough it happened. >> which raises the question how do candidates prepared? these two debate coaches showed me. they prepped president bush for debate. o'donnell later coached mitt romney and michele bachmann. they spent hours trying to replicate debate moments. >> you have the candidate stand in front of a podium like this as realistic as possible? >> yeah. you want a strong bearing, erect. look at colin powell. he commands the podium. it's like this. >> it's about making sure that you fill the stage more than your opponent does. >> the candidates practice debating stand-ins. for obama, john kerry's plays romney. rob portman plays obama. >> you never see videotape of this, not even pictures. >> no. there's a reason why. you don't want to show those vulnerable moments. >> we don't want to give away any component to our prep. >> in the 2000 campaign, one of mckinnon's secretaries gave prep video to the gore campaign. >> gore campaign went straight to the fbi. >> what happened to her? >> she went to prison for a year. >> what's so secret? i pretended to be a candidate. limited government -- >> just limited government. what kind of limits are you talking about? can you be specific. >> yes, i can list cuts. >> would you cut defense? >> so you're soft on defense? >> i knew how i should answer the questions, but under pressure it's hard. i'm saying take it back to the clinton days. "instinct is to answer the questions that are asked, but consultants day don't. >> you're still answering my questions, but most of the time you want to be delivering your message. >> they say sarah palin was good at that. >> governor palin answered the questions in her debate on her terms. >> governor palin, is that so? >> that's not so, but because that's a quick answer i want to talk about my record on energy. >> she was able to pivot most of the questions on to ground that she was comfortable in handling the questions on. >> they kept grilling me. >> do you believe college is stupid? >> i -- >> don't you think that saying college is stupid is an irresponsible remark to make? >> no. for some people college is stupid. >> you just gave him some tape. >> now they'll make a commercial of you saying college is stupid. >> he says college is stupid. >> college is stupid. >> stossel, bad for our kids! bad for america! >> knowing that one bad debate moment can wreck your campaign makes candidates very careful. when gerald ford debated jimmy carter there was a technical glitch. >> the broadcasters from philadelphia have temporarily lost the audio. >> instead of leaving the stage to take a break, neither candidate moved. >> we don't know what's happened. we're as much surprised by what's going on as you are. >> since one wasn't going to budge, the other wouldn't budge. >> they stood there like for a half hour? >> they were frozen. >> the first president bush was criticized for looking at his watch too much during a debate. he looked at his watch. so what? >> it's a nonverbal clue that says i'm -- i want to get away from this situation as fast as possible. >> and that hurt him? >> he was widely viewed as losing that debate. it overran the message. >> al gore was criticized after this debate for sighing while george bush spoke. >> this is a major problem. social security -- >> he looked like a do yo dufus. >> he was kansas city gated. next debate, al gore went out of his way to be docile and agree with everything bush said. >> the governor and i agree. i agree with governor bush. i basically agree with dick cheney. >> embarrassing episodes like those are why candidates practice a lot. these discussions go on for hours? >> hours. for most candidates it's the most hated part of the candidate. >> does a candidate ever get mad? >> all the time. it's painful. it's not fun. >> do candidates ever yell at you? >> yell, collapse, walk out. >> they all do it because practice builds confidence. the confident guy wins, not the guy who has the better answer? >> quite often, yes. confidence, not competence, often wins. so do looks. that's next. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. 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 call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. [ male announcer ] fedex office. sleep train's inveis ending soon. sale save 10%, 20%, even 35% on a huge selection of simmons and sealy clearance mattresses. get 2 years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. even get free delivery! sleep train stacks the savings high to keep the prices low. but hurry, the inventory clearance sale is ending soon. superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ >> people that complain that political campaigns are too shallow, why don't they talk more about the important issues? well, there's a good reason. who's this? >> oh, my god. how could is not know this? >> who's this? >> i have no idea. i'm not dog very good, am i? >> yet there are all these get out the vote campaigns. >> vote! >> vote! >> please get out and vote. >> get out and vote! >> i don't want everyone to get out and vote because some people don't know much. i went to times square and showed people posters of important politicians. most people didn't know speaker of the house john boehner. >> who's this? >> i have no idea. >> many didn't know nancy pelosi. >> who's this? >> i don't know. >> oh, my god. >> well, this is awkward. >> that's the vice president of something. >> let's taste the actual vice president. >> who's this? >> i don't know who that one is. >> it's the vice president. just can't remember his name. >> biden. >> no, no. >> many were better at celebrities. >> tom cruise. >> justin bieber. >> it's not that people are stupid, but most americans spend more time thinking about other things. >> the average amount of time that a person spends on presidential politics in the course of a campaign is probably about three hours. >> that may shock you political junkies who watch fox, but americans spend much more time thinking about food, money, sex. politics is way down the list. it's a reason they keep appeals simple, emotional. >> there's a bear in the woods. >> republicans run ads like this one to suggest democrats are soft on defense. >> isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? >> we the republicans, we see the threat. we're going to take action to protect the nation from this. democrats, you can't trust them. >> jonathan's research based on surveys of thousands of people concluded that most of us choose our political party less on fact and more on which politician seems to be like members of our clan. >> he says conservatives join with people who worry more about foreign threats. liberals are more likely to obsess about the purity of nature. >> may i mideast have more arsenic in my water, mommy? >> these sanctity purity ideas about the environment. >> more salmonella in my cheeseburger, please. >> lots of research shows the subconscious matters more than fact. >> the professor at princeton did a very illoom nateing study. he said pick who looks more confident. >> here's how most people rank them. >> he predicted the outcome of all those races based on which candidate looked more confident. not beautiful, but more confident. 70% of the time the more confident-looking person won the election. >> candidates with more angular faces, as seen here, are seen as more competent. at the face becomes more baby-faced, people say that person looks less competent. >> people make decisions based on looks? >> looks. >> mitt romney and obama appear about equal. consultants even worry about the people who stand behind the candidate. at this obama rally, people were already seated behind the podium when a staffer, highlighted here, came on stage and got some white people to move out. >> if you look at a candidate for president, he's got a bunch of people behind him, half will be men, half will be women. >> and a certain number will be of a different race. in this case, the result is that the camera now will see some minorities behind obama. >> there will be a percentage of blacks, hispanics, a percentage of asians. that's the way you do it. >> i thought it just worked out that way. >> you did? that's why you're sitting where you're sitting and i'm sitting where i'm sitting. you don't have a clue how this works. >> people have to be cynical about baby kissing. >> kids are a particular attraction. i like to use kids. i'm always worried they'll pick up a baby and drop it. >> how much superficialallity, but for all the shallowness and dirtiness of politics there's good news. that's next. you know what? we're spending too much money on eating out anyway. honey, come look at this. 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