thank you very much. leah wright jeff zeleny, welcome to both of you. jeff, first to you, your reaction on the new poll numbers and how strong the showing senator harris has. well, one thing is clear, senator harris totally captured the imagination and the interest of a lot of voters who were watching the debate last week, she s now going to be locked in the top tier of candidates, as her campaign is well aware, this is a fluid race, things can go down as fast as they go up, it s clear there s a level of interest in her candidacy that certainly she sparked last week in miami. i think one thing also, the biden campaign knew this was going to be a contest not a coronation, they weren t expecting that to start july 1st. they were trying to draw this out as long as possible. this is a race, and all these candidates will be in iowa later
games, margaret, where the vikings were leading in the first quarter and go on to not quite make it, so i think you see a fluid race, and, yes, there are a lot of candidates and you re going to see that narrowed down over time. i m clearly on the debate stage and expect to be there in the fall, and i think that s going to give opportunity to voters in iowa and all across the country to real narrow it down. we still have 240 days before iowans first express their preferences in the caucus, so we re certainly disappointed this week when we heard they wouldn t count one of the polls but if i had to choose between chasing 100,000 voters or getting healthcare for 100,000 montanans like i just did, i would make that choice for healthcare each and every day. we still have a long way to go before this thing is decided. for more on this major event let s go to cnn s jeff zeleny at the dinner. jeff, you know this state and the voters well.
he can use this opportunity and make the most out of it and we will see him tomorrow, monday. you think he could be a town meeting guy, go there and gets people excited at a small level. i spent time with him recently on the trail with him, and you see christie, and he overwhelms voters and donors with livliness and his personality. just the kind of candidate the republicans were looking for a few years ago, and he is still plagued by the scandals, and you will have more indictments and trials for his former aides. who tells him, if it is over, if he doesn t have a real chance, how does that play out? who says to him, governor christie, it s not happening? i think you played a clip of that person. his long-time political adviser, and they see a fluid race and
cry from victory. the primary is still more than two months away, and if no candidate can muster 40% in the party primary, the top two vote getters will face off in a runoff october 1st. that s when the whole scandalous past really will be brought out and politically litigated. that s when it will really be talked about in a very pointed way. what i think is interesting about this is mark sanford was sworn into congress just a month ago. he didn t use jenny sanford in his campaign because they divorced, but he also apologized right up front as he was announcing his campaign, just like anthony weiner did. and they just took question after question after question until people stopped. one thing about weiner, the worst thing that happens is he loses, he s back in public life, he s gone throughout gauntlet and he can do what he wants to do. it s a fluid race right now.
that is a tie. doug: the numbers are jumping around. when you see poll numbers jumping around, you say to yourself, this is a fluid race. what pat and john said was equally true: the president s job approval is inching up and governor romney has yet to articulate a clear alternative pentagon for why people should vote for him. given that, the numbers are fluctuating. pat: the other day gallup had it even. heather: rasmussen still has it even. pat: but one poll had romney up several points. they bouncing around. the election is close. i agree with doug, the romney campaign has not been