>> let's talk about the massive ad push in the final days. >> with seven days remaining democrats are fighting back against anonymous flood of cash into republican campaigns. >> i think you're going to see a wave, an unprecedented wave. >> by spending tens of millions of dollars to try to buy a congress that will do their bidding again. >> the democratic strategy, expose the republican money machine. >> jobs shipped overseas. >> his big interests are fighting hard to get back in power. >> the u.s. chamber of commerce. they even take in secret foreign money. they are stealing our democracy. >> frankly, there are a few things about this election that have got me somewhere between disturbed and ticked off. >> rally the base. >> you think someone is sitting out, you've got to shake them and tell them, they can't sit this one out. >> between falling backwards and moving forward. i don't know about you but i want to move forward. >> to keep democrats in charge party leaders will have to grin and bear attacks from their own candidates. >> what i said to the president is this process about endorsements isn't something i'm concerned about right now. he can take the endorsement and shove it. >> it will help if i can put some distance between us. it's not like we're friends are anything. >> we are not. before the election, early results say much has been made about the republican enthusiasm gap and the tidal wave will not be quite as devastating as previously predicted. that hasn't stopped some democrats from lashing out at leaders of their own party, including the president, in a last ditch attempt to save their campaigns. in rhode island, the democratic campaign for governor actually told president obama to shove it. >> what i said to the president is that this process about endorsements isn't something i'm concerned about right now. he can take the endorsement and shove it. earlier tonight i spoke to former virginia governor, tim kaine, the head of the democratic party. tim kaine, thanks for joining us tonight. >> you bet, lawrence. >> do you see any evidence in the early voting patterns that are favoring democrats? >> we do, lawrence. it kind of depends state to state. different states have different practices. we're seeing strong numbers in ohio, iowa, nevada. we're seeing some general trends suggesting the effort to turn out first time 2008 presidential voters at a higher level than would be their norm. that's something we work hard on. obviously there's still something to do. i voted early in virginia today. i'm encouraging everybody i can to get out and do it early. we're seeing that momentum pick up again. >> i have my early voting ballot at home but i can't tell you how i'm going to vote. but i'm in henry waxman's district, so i don't think you have to worry about that particular district. >> i wouldn't want to you reveal any trade secrets there. >> there does seem to be more disarray in the democratic party than we are used to. of course people are accustomed to all sorts of infighting in the democratic party but it's starting to head toward chaos. have you a democratic candidate for governor in rhode island who has said and said again today that president obama could take his endorsement and shove it. this is because the president has not endorsed the democrat in the race for governor in rhode island. how can the governor not endorse the democrat for governor in rhode island. >> well, lawrence, as you know, there's an independent candidate in that race who is a personal friend of the president's. so he just has said, look, there's things in my life other than politics. i'm not going to do an endorsement. the good news is the dnc supported the democratic gubernatorial candidate we sent financial support to the campaign. the person who is helping us raise a lot of our dollars is the president of the united states. so the dnc is fully behind caprio in that race. we think the polling looks good. the president does have a personal friendship in this instance. there are things in his life other than just politics. >> plenty of politicians have friendships we're talking about a former senator from long island, his father john chaffe was the senator for years. still democratic senators in the senate endorsed opponents running against john chaffe on the democratic ticket. the idea that he's friendly with lincoln chaffe, therefore the president doesn't have to endorse the candidate. there's no model for that? is there in the presidency? >> i'm not thinking of a historical precedent right off the bat. oftentimes the president doesn't endorse everybody. i'm going back to the top. i don't see significant infighting in the party. we're a big tent party. this comment mr. caprio made, look, it's the last week benefactor election, emotions run high. you can understand that. we're a big tent party. i don't see a lot of fighting among democrats. the infighting is on the other side. are we pulling the same direction. that's the party will rogers joked about, the big ten party. we're the big tent and sometimes that creates challenges. we don't have significant infighting. our candidates pull together after primaries and they are pulling together to get votes we need next tuesday. >> they are not pulling together as fast as you might want, west virginia, joe manchin, the sitting governor there. he's running an ad where he shoots a copy of the cap and trade bill president obama supported, the house of representatives passed and he says he doesn't know if he will endorse barack obama for re-election. that's, unprecedented in people running for democratic ticket. >> if a democrat stands up and says anything negative about the president it's going to be on national news as democrats against the president. i've been in 40 plus states as dnc chair. i campaign of people every day proud of the president, proud of the party and proud of the accomplishments of the president has been doing one event after the next with candidates all over this country who want him to campaign with them. he's done rallies that produced about 150,000 people attending them. are there examples of the president holding at arm's length, sure, there are. most i campaign with are proud of the party, the president, the accomplishments. >> i worked for a liberal democrat for senate. when colleagues were running in other states like oklahoma for election, he would say to them, look, i'll say something nice about you if that will help you or i'll attack you if that's what you want me to do. is that what's really going on with president obama and candidates like joe manchin. are you saying, look, say whatever you have to say to get elected, we'll sort out unity issues after the election. >> we will sort them out. we're not giving them directions. look at the primary season, compare the democrat and republican party. there were tough democratic primaries in colorado between some states. we didn't have a single instance where after the primary the winner and loser weren't able to get back on board and work together. the other side led to split parties, losing candidates not endorsing the winner, canceled unity rallies. this is a function of a big tent party, because we are a big tent we're going to have differences of opinion. we don't have a hard time pulling together and getting the work done. >> in texas there's a democratic congress chet edwards bragging about voting against health care bill, climate bill, other democrats running for election in the house stressing they voted against the health care bill. one of them saying he will refuse to vote for nancy pelosi for speaker. all of this talk provoked an op-ed piece in the "new york times" by harry berman who makes the case democrats would be in better shape and accomplish more if they had a smaller, more idea logically cohesive caucus. do you agree with that? >> i actually don't. we're a big tent party. the republicans tend to throw you over the side if you cast a wrong vote on the abortion bill or taxes. we have always been the big tent party. look, it creates some frustrations but that big tent geographically idea logically is part of who we are. i do think a lot of democrats could frankly get more mileage as running as happy warriors rather than anxious worriers. that's been my advice to the candidates but as you know i'm not writing the speeches for them. folks are taking their own sense about what's best for their district or the jurisdiction they are running in. >> chairman of the big tent party tim kaine. thank you for joining us in the last week of the election. >> you bet, lawrence. thanks. joining me a 12-term democratic congressman from oregon. congressman, you said if re-elected you will not support nancy pelosi as speaker. why? ? >> well, i represent a rural southwestern district with a couple of college towns. i brought up a number of issue with the speaker. i proposed a year and a half ago we should do for seniors, imposing fica tax on people earning over $1.3 million a year. it's fair, flat. someone earning $20,000 would pay the same as someone who earns 1.2 million or whatever. that was one issue. two, cap and trade. cap and trade for the life of me, why the speaker pushed cap and trade in that form, that was the enron bill, written by enron. it mirrors what they have done in europe. it failed. they are paying more for power and actually have greater emissions. we need something based in regulation. same way we solved clean water, clean air, it's predictable. going to market, wall street was thrilled with cap and trade. those are the last people i want dealing with something essential as fossil fuels in this economy. we've had other differences over the stimulus bill. i wanted more investment. i didn't want the big tax cuts. on health care, i didn't think we should have exceeded to the senate. i wanted to have a bill that had public option that had natural changes, took over antitrust in the industry. we did those things in the house. i think we should have pulled back and not gone forward with the senate version of the bill, instead done targeted reforms. we had an argument with the caucus in the end, because i had medicare in the end, working for 16 other states but the bill needs fixing. i think there's been a number of misjudgments and miscalls. quite frankly the leadership of the house has been too willing to just go along with the president. we're democrats we don't have to do what he wants to do. we have to do what's best for constituents in the country and we have failed in a number of instances. >> surely you've had disagreements like that with congressional party leaders in the past, certainly with tom foley, the speaker, you've been there over 20 years. to come out against an incumbent speaker during your campaign and declare you will not vote for that person to be speaker if you return to the majority is an unprecedented act for you. and as you know, for incumbent democrats in general. it's just not something that happens. what is it about speaker pelosi that broke your resolve to stick with party on this? >> she's unfairly maligned because people are sexist against a woman speaker, but i've had substantial issues, i don't think someone from that zip code, san francisco, understands the needs of the people. i need someone that understands those needs better. i'm progressive, member of the progressive caucus, populist caucus. urban liberal folks have a point of view. at some point you have to listen to the rest of us. she's been very effective getting things done but sometimes i think to the detriment of the party and potentially to the detriment of the country, particularly with the cap and trade bill. it's the way it is. i call them the way i see them. i got here that way, i'm going to leave here that way. >> who would you want as speaker instead of nancy pelosi. >> first off i'm not sure we'll be electing a speaker because of mistakes made, particularly mistakes by the president choosing an economics team, warmed over folks from clinton era. i called for getting rid of geithner before the republican party did. too much attention to wall street not enough attention to main street and small businesses and working people. i've got a number of differences. i've always expressed my differences honestly with my party. i'm like wayne morris, many years ago, who came from republican to independent to democrat. he said, look, i'm going to listen to everybody, all points of view. in the end i will make a judgment depending upon what i think is best for the country and the people i represent. that's where i'm at now. i believe we need new leadership where in the majority or minority. >> representative peter de-fazio democrat from oregon, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> in kentucky, face-off between jack connelly and rand paul did happen despite the threat not to show up. after last week's contentious debate, how rough was it tonight? later in the final frantic week of campaigning, first lady maria shriver joins us to talk politics and her women's conference. defaze rand paul and jack conway face off in their final debate tonight. we'll have the latest reaction from kentucky and see if tonight produced a game changer for either candidate. later maria shriver's star-studded guest list at her women's conference. we'll talk politics with california's first lady ahead on the last word. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. i'd like one of those desserts and some coffee. sure, decaf or regular? - regular. - cake or pie? - pie. - apple or cherry? cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream... please. when other toppings are made with hydrogenated oil, the real dairy cream in reddi-wip's sure an easy choice. nothing's more real than reddi-wip. fork or... spoon? kentucky tea party senate candidate rand paul vowed a week ago after a nasty debate with his opponent kentucky's democrat conway. he changed his mind and he and paul sat down with a discussion type debate. they sparred over attacks. >> you don't attack a man's dog and a man's horse. >> you can't attack a man's actions. >> i questioned your actions not your faith. he said $2,000 deductible. he said i didn't say that until we produced video of him saying it. same thing with the fair tax. came out with a 23% national sales tax. his campaign manager sent out an e-mail on it. >> the thing is you have a simplistic world view, you oversimplify things. >> you talking down to me? >> you don't want to produce the whole fact. you see we're going to heap on sales tax. you forget to mention we're talking about eliminating income tax. >> i know -- >> and they debated health care and the economy. >> now he's trying to conjure up this argument deductibles are going up. has he to run from his world, the seniors from kentucky, the world i live out there on the trail they can't afford a 23% national sales tax, a $2,000 medical deductible when the current one is $200. they can't afford what rand paul is putting out there. he's wrong for kentucky. >> perhaps they can't afford president obama's $2 trillion debt. the leader of the party, the guy you support in the party, your kind of democratic, you wanted president obama is a disaster for our country. he's bankrupting us. you sit blindly over there and support his policies. it's a disaster. >> they have very different views of abortion. >> i would like to know both candidates' views and are they for or against. if they are against it what are we going to do to stop it. >> i'm 100% pro-life, would support a human life amendment to the constitution. >> i am a christian. i think abortion ought to be as rare as we can make it. i would support parental notification. i would support restrictions. it ought to be as rare as we can make it. i come down on the libertarian view on this, the government ought not to be telling women what to do. >> joining me political writer for louisville, kentucky, rural and community issues university of kentucky al cross. al, were there any game changers tonight, a clear winner in this debate? >> i don't think so, lawrence. i think both candidates accomplished what they wanted to do. rand paul got his big concepts across, this is a referendum on obama, we have to do something about the debt and deficit. he got in his reaction lines about career politicians. he had a good one about debunking the experts. conway, on the other hand, was able to talk a lot about some of rand paul's positions and changes of positions. he caught him in a couple of misstatements, one at the end of one of those clips you played. paul said conway supported obama in the primary and conway said, well, you're making that up. so they both got their hits in but there was no clear winner. >> there is some details. >> we can say that -- >> go ahead. >> i think you can say that paul was able to keep on his theme of big concepts, which i think have put him in the lead and kept him in the lead. conway was able to make people think more about paul and some of his ideas that sometimes don't quite fit onto the political landscape from his concepts. >> it does seem that some of the details can crash into rand paul's big concepts. for example, medicare deductibles. if conway can make it stick that rand paul would allow medicare deductibles to go up 'stro no, ma'amically from where they are now, wouldn't that be effective with seniors in kentucky? why hasn't it been? why aren't those kinds of details getting traction with voters? >> well, i think they probably are getting some traction because the conway campaign keeps using that particular point. paul's response, of course, is i'm not talking about changing anything for people currently on medicare. i'm talking about changing it for younger people who will go onto it later. >> now, let's take a look at aqua buddha ad, that jack conway ad that really changed the nature of the campaign and made the last debate so contentious. let's look at that now. >> i'm jack conway, i approved this message. >> why was rand paul a member of a secret society that called the holy bible a hoax, banned from mocking christianity and christ. why did rands paul tie a woman up, tell her to bow down before a false idol and say his god was aqua buddha. why does rand paul want to end faith-based initiatives and end the deduction for religious charities? why are there so many questions about rand paul? >> al, you pointed out in your column that it was a horrible ad, it turned people off. but there wasn't anything in it that was actually untrue and rand paul hasn't actually debunked anything in it although he said it was untrue. >> he likes to issue broad denials. it's apparent to everyone he did undertake this crazy prank with a woman who said he was an acquaintance of his on the swim team, i think, at baylor. he was a member of this nose brotherhood that made fun of religion, baptists in particular at this baptist university. i think most voters are prepared to cut candidates some slack for what they did in college more than a quarter of a century ago. >> and the rand paul ad calling conway a yes man for obama in the current climate in kentucky is actually more effective than something that talks about what happened in college? >> i think so generally. of course, there's been a backlash to the conway ad. while it has made some people who vote on faith and values stop and think about paul, i think conway has been severely criticized for running the ad. he's losing the public opinion debate on that question. paul continues to run a second response ad criticizing conway and using lots of national cable tv talking heads criticizing him. >> al cross with the louisville courier journal and university of kentucky. thanks for joining us tonight. >> you're welcome. what will happen if you sit out next week's election? republic corp. that's what will happen. that's next. a guest rewrite tonight courtesy of senator al franken. he respectfully rewrites the president's analogy of the gop driving the economy into a ditch. sometimes you have to take unusual steps to get out the vote. move on.org with the help of olivia wild from "house." and an actor from "weeds" has issued a warning from the future to show you what would happen if the republicans win the election because you didn't vote. >> you're about to make a huge mistake, one that changes the country forever. records indicate you didn't vote in the upcoming 2010 elections. we know that's when it went wrong. when you didn't vote republicans took over congress and merged with big corporations that fund them to create republic corp., all because you didn't vote. unacceptable. since you didn't vote, and i know this is a bummer to hear since it's really nice out today because you can still see the sun in the year 2010, but they would alter you. they replaced social security with a daily motivational e-mail from john boehner. they put that fat cat in charge of regulation. like a literal fat cat. his name was mr. carothers. that cat was corrupt. i can see you are totally cuter in person. this was all before we learned the two most terrifying word in the english language, president palin. look, here she is signing declaration of war against china in 2017. here she is signing declaration of super war against norway in 2020. here she is signing a declaration of ultrawar against iran, botswana, harris casino in atlantic city and the pacific ocean. can you take five minutes out of your day to vote. you have to go right by there on the way to get milk at the store anyway. there's not much time. they are getting close. i forgot to tell you about the clone bots. you have a chance to change all this. >> we have to boost out now. >> i'm trying to -- >> you've got contact. if you don't vote, you know what i'm going to do, in vent the time machine, come back there and kick your dumb butt. it means everything. >> remember to vote. >> only you can save the future. >> vote, vote. with campaign spending breaking records in california and accusations flying in tv ads, the first lady of california invites the candidates for governor to have a civil discussion. maria shriver joins us next. later, first came the debate, then the appearance on the last word, then "saturday night live." now the rent is too high guy returns to the last word to respond to what "saturday night live" did to him. ner. one who can stay in sync with their moves. my job at ge capital is to get bobcat all the financial and business support they need. we provide financing for every bobcat dealer in north america. together, we've rolled out over 100,000 machines to small businesses all over the country so they too can grow. ♪ ge capital. we're there for bobcat every step of the way. ♪ tdd# 1-800-345-2550 are still talking about retirement tdd# 1-800-345-2550 like it's some kind of dream. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's either this magic number i'm supposed to reach, or... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it's beach homes or it's starting a vineyard. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 come on! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 just help me figure it out in a practical, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's-make-this-happen kind of way. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a vineyard? 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[ male announcer ] when you have plaque psoriasis, you see patches on your skin's surface. but let's look at the condition's inner workings. psoriasis involves an overactive immune system. this leads to an overproduction of skin cells that rise to the surface, build up, and cause plaques. this understanding has led to treatments that help manage plaque psoriasis closer to where it starts. learn more at insidepsoriasis.com. and talk to your doctor about psoriasis. ♪ who can sell 15,000 tickets in 5 minutes? who can get the following people in the same room? jill biden, laura bush, norah efron, ruth bader ginsburg, caroline kennedy, matt lauer, michelle obama, tony robbins, jessica simpson, brian williams, oprah winfrey, not to mention jerry brown, meg whitman and the man whose job they both want, governor arnold schwarzenegger. who can do that? om one person that can do that and she's in our spotlight. joining me from california, the first lady of that state, maria shriver. maria, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. i know it's noisy but there are 10,000 women behind me. so forgive me. >> maria, how did you get all those people and those 10,000 women together? how did you get them to all go to long beach? >> well, i asked them first of all. i tell them i'll treat them with respect and dignity and i'll let them tell their story kind of unfiltered. women at the end of the day, we've built a community online and they want to connect with each other. they want to buy books, meet people that will inspire them and get the tools to live their life in a solution oriented way. >> and the women's conference began while you were first lady of california. at first you were reluctant to ask some of your friends to come and weren't sure how to go. it's know now exploded into this giant event down there in long beach. what happens over the three days of the conference? >> i think we started with free health care and medical care and financial help for women who are struggling, the working poor. we moved into the biggest alzheimer's march here in california. we had programs that support the arts. really over the next two days we try to have women see themselves as architects of change in their street, community, country. you'll hear from authors, newsmakers, journalists about how they had lived their lives, what they wished they would have known, what they learned along the way to empower you. we've tried to work with companies socially responsible. women control 80% of consumer decisions in this country. so companies are really interested in what do women want, what do they want to buy, what kind of working environment do they want, and they find it here. >> you have what may turn out to be the biggest political event of the week scheduled for tomorrow. you have matt lauer moderating a discussion with the current governor of california and the two people who want his job. i think we know how you got the governor to show up. how did you get meg whitman and jerry brown to commit to what is another debate for them. >> meg whitman has been here before. i've known jerry brown all my life. he was the first political figure when my own father ran, he was the first political figure that supported them. the browns and slifrs go way back. women are going to run this election. you should speak and be here. i'm going to have this conversation and i hope you'll join me. i'm going to have it, and i hope you'll come. >> a lot of candidates around the country, let's listen to meg whitman's latest ad. >> now i'm running for governor to restore the california dream for everyone. i'm not a career politician or a hollywood star. i'm from silicon valley where i created thousands of jobs at ebay. >> maria, she's not a hollywood star. were you surprised to see a republican candidate take a shot at ronald reagan like that? i was very surprised to see that in there? >> i think we have both been around politics long enough not to be surprised at just about anything. she's trying to sell herself. she's jumped into this race. california is a difficult state. it's complex. it has a complex political system. but it's a great opportunity to run i think the greatest state of the nation. as we all know what happens in the state of california really does say a lot to what happens around the world. i think this is an exciting race. people are very interested in it. i think you've never seen a sitting governor with two people who want their job. i think everybody is unsure how that's going to go. i've worked a lot with matt, so i told him it's all in his hands. >> maria, there's another ad running in california that criticizes a woman senator, barbara boxer, for wanting to be called by her title senator during hearings instead of ma'am. it seems to me that's something that would resonate at the women's conference that a woman who has worked as long and hard as she did and all the other women senators, republican and democrat to get where they are to simply be asked to be called by their title seems fairly reasonable to me. does that make sense at the women's conference that a woman snow are would simply want to be called by her title. >> you know, lawrence, the women i talk to her that are politically minded, and they all are, say that's not what they are interested in. they are interested in jobs they can have that allow them to parent and take care of their parents, flexible work hours. jobs where they can combine all these things. elder care, child care, family leave. that's what they are interested about. they are very frustrated, all the women, democrat and republican that i talked to about the tone of the campaigns across the country, about the nature of the discussion and how it doesn't resonate with what they are dealing with at their kitchen tables. i find that across both parties. the fastest growing party here in california has declined to stay. they say that the conversations they were having were nonreflective in these races. they come up and say how do i find out about the positions and smart work policies. i can't even hear in the debate. help us figure that out. i think a lot of times the media is focused on who said what and the tea party and the tone and the language. people that i talk to are really interested in specifics. >> maria, what happens to the women's conference next year when you're no longer first lady and back in private life? >> i have no idea. it depends who wins. i think, you know, i'm going to hand them over something that works 24 hours, 365 days a year. there are a lot of programs that are the recipients of this great conference that help women out of poverty, domestic violence situations, micro lending, incredible nonprofit. it's a six-day event and funds programs throughout the state of california and really throughout the nation. i hope one of those two people, whether it's jerry brown or meg whitman, they will run with it. if they don't want it, i'll take it. >> take it if you will. >> i'm going to be unemployed. >> thank you very much for joining us tonight, maria. >> thank you. thank you. >> when president obama is on the campaign trail, he likes to say the republicans drove the economy into a ditch. in tonight's rewrite senator al franken goes him one better. later the rent is too damn high guy stole the show at new york governor's debate last week. now he's been done by "saturday night live." receiving the bronze star, that was definitely one of my proudest moments. i graduated from west point, then i did a tour of duty in iraq. when i was transitioning from active duty, i went to a military officer hiring conference. it was kind of like speed dating. there were 12 companies that i was pre-matched with, but walmart turned out to be the best for me. sam walton was in the military, and he understood the importance of developing your people. it's an honor to be in a position of leadership at walmart. i'm captain tracey lloyd, and i work at walmart. ♪ i'm captain tracey lloyd, and i work at walmart. this is what it's like ahhh... getting an amazing discount on a hotel with travelocity's top secret hotels. the easy way to get unpublished discounts of up to 55% off top hotels. harpist not included. in a ditch or over a cliff, what did the republican party do to the economy when they were in power? the answer is in a guest rewrite tonight by senator al franken. later, the rent is too damn high guy. he will not be the next governor of new york but he will become a recurring character on "saturday night live," or will he? jimmy mcmillan makes his triumphant return to the last word. nationwide insurance, i'm all ears. i bought my policy online and i haven't heard from the company since. when pam switches to nationwide insurance, we're not going to treat her like policy 413. we're gonna treat her like pam, get to know her, be proactive. oh and rename the company nationpam. oh, ooh. done. ♪ nationpam is on your... ♪ ♪ sam we'll make that work. time for the rewrite starring tonight's guest rewriter minnesota's junior democratic senator al franken. over the weekend at a democratic rally at the university of minnesota, senator franken rewrote president obama's line about the bush administration driving the economy into a ditch. according to "politico," the president first used that line back in april saying, after driving our economy into the ditch, republicans decided to stand on the side of the road and watch us while we pulled it out of the ditch. they asked, why haven't you pulled it out fast enough? i notice there's a little cache there in the fender. why didn't you do something about that? on saturday on stage with the president senator franken in what he told me was an homage to the in the ditch idea to better reflect how close the economy came to a total collapse. he said, when the president took office, not only had the car gone into the ditch but the car had flipped over and was rolling down a steep embankment. we, the american people, were in the back seat and the bush administration had removed all the seat belts. so we were all flying around the interior of this car as it was rolling and flipping and careening down this steep embankment heading to a 2,000 foot cliff. and at the bottom of that cliff were jagged rocks, and alligators. now at noon january 209, 2009 as the car was careening toward the cliff george w. bush jumped out of the car. president bush jumped out of the car and president obama somehow managed to dive in through a window, take the wheel, get control of the vehicle just inches before it went over the precipice, and he and congress started inching this wrecked car back up the embankment. now, you can't push a car up an embankment as fast as it careens down an embankment but we got it going in the right direction and slowly we've gotten ourselves up that embankment, past the ditch, up on the shoulder of the road. that is what happened. that's where we are today. thank you, senator franken. there's nothing i like more than someone doing this work for me, especially the writing. [ male announcer ] for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. which meant she continued to have the means to live on... even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. on our car insurance. last week at the new york gubernatorial debate we met jimmy mcmillan of the rent is too damn high party. he's become a media sensation. clips of his appearance garnered over 3u7b,000 hits on youtube, he's been the guest of several shows, including right here last week. jimmy's celebrity status peaked on saturday during weekend update on "saturday night live." >> people got seven jobs. they working 36 hours a day, 12 days a week and they can't afford a roof. i will make sure you have a roof over your head, money in your pocket and breakfast, lunch, and dinner. you hear that? somebody's symptom acjust growled. that was a children's stomach just growled because the rent is too damn high. you know how much a one-bedroom apartment costs in manhattan? $77,000 a month. you know what a roof costs? you can't afford it. you know what breakfast, lunch, and dinner costs? put it this way, it would be cheaper to eat a roof. you probably look at me and think, what, is he just another washington insider? what is it, part of the establishment? well, believe it or not, i have never been a governor anywhere. people ask, if elected, how would you lower our rent. simple, the rent is too damn hi high. >> joining me once again now in his 14th minute of fame, candidate for new york governor jimmy mcmillan. jimmy, you were laughing all the way through. you liked it? >> i have never seen anyone imitate me. it is funny as h-e-l-l. >> a lot of politicians don't have a sense of humor when "saturday night live" gets around to them. they say, come on, don't make fun of me. >> humor has left. this is a good example of need change. don't be afraid to laugh and tell jokes. don't be afraid to let someone imitate you. this is america. >> now you have a second plank in your platform, lower the rent and humor. >> lower taxes and humor, absolutely. >> jimmy, we've got problems in your campaign. >> okay. >> "the new york times" quotes you on this whole rent question about exactly how much are your paying for rent. they quote you saying, landlords don't want you to pay any money at all. i'm basically living there rent-free. i want to give you every one of these comments to answer. >> sure. >> "the new york times" also quotes you saying, don't look for anything i say about my living space to be true. >> true. >> hold on that one. "new york post" reports, the rent has been frozen at a reasonable $800 since 2005, which we'll get to it, i think $800 in new york is not a rent that's too damn high. maybe you do. finally the "associated press" quotes you saying, i just made stuff up and told them none of that is true. i'm not a politician. this isn't about my personal life. so jimmy, how much are you paying in rent, if anything? >> i pay rent. but i'm not about me. it's about homeless people and the people getting evicted. i'm trying to. >> if it's too damn high. >> people are getting -- for people getting evicted, it's too damn high, they are getting evicted. it's not about me. this is why america is in the shape it's in. politicians is not about the people they are talking about themselves. >> your rent is not too damn high. >> i pay rent. >> you're not in this for you. >> no, absolutely. >> your rent is not too damn high. you're in it for the other people. >> i pay rent. i'm in it for the people, that lost their homes to foreclosures, people sleeping in homeless shelters. i'm not the plain old politicians. everyone wants to get on and talk about them, what they are going to do. where is the fight for the people. that's why the rent is too damn high party i guess fighting for the people. working 40 hours a week, sometimes a third job. this the problem. i will not fall down that same old political trend everybody else had. the rent is too damn high party is different. we can create the job but can't do it if everybody talk about themselves. people need to work. mothers and fathers have to work three jobs and can't feed their children. i'm vietnam vet