romney has just a 1-5 chance to win this election? hi, i m chris mathews. welcome to the show. with us today, new york magazine s john, trish and kelly and the huffington post s d howard. with just over a month to go for mitt romney, given the polls, the debates may be it. it could change the narrative that has dogged him or cemented. romney has the same urgent must-do list that he at the republican convention. only now could be his last chance. today we re going to look at romney s career, back at his career, at some missteps in past debates and also at some gems from barack obama. first up, first on romney s must-do list, get likable. and avoid this kind of reaction when governor rick perry charged that romney had hired illegal lawn workers. i m speaking. i m speaking. i m speaking. i m speaking. you get 30 seconds. this is the way the rules work here. is that i get 60 seconds. and you get but the american people want the truth. they want i understand you say
0 put into play, pennsylvania. he will speak to veterans at valley forge military academy in a philadelphia suburb. only public event of the day. he will be fund-raising in philadelphia, probably the motivation why he is in philly. slew of national polls show how damaging romney s remark on the 47% has been to his campaign. the most recent national polls trails the president by 5 to 8 points. instead of punching a national message, romney seems to be making the parochial argument. yesterday in virginia, warned an american legion audience that devastating job losses were coming if congress and the president go through with the defense cuts called sequestration. the impact will be immediate and significant here in virginia. 136,000 jobs will be lost in virginia as a result of this move. and though romney wanted to focus on defense cuts, he couldn t avoid questions on the 47% comment. he was forced to defend himself in a series of local television interviews. is there a clarificatio
deciding the election. ohio, florida, virginia, colorado, iowa, wisconsin, north carolina, nevada, new hampshire. bad news for mitt romney, he doesn t lead in a single one. at best within the poll s margin of error. at worst, trails by eight points. this morning, how the nine states stack up. we said it again and again. the president s job approval rating may be the best indicator of where the bout may be. where it is more than 50, the president favored to win. iowa, florida, new hampshire, ohio, virginia, his approval rating below that, 47 or 48 in four. colorado, nevada, north carolina, wisconsin. here is a second way to breakdown the numbers. romney struggled with favorability number all year. that number underwater, more voters have unfavorable than favorable view in six states. romney is in positive territory in just three. florida, north carolina, virginia. finally, a third bucket of looking at these numbers in the extent of romney s problems. for months, romney led on
0 his own callous comments, romney has his own new ad out talking straight to the camera. too many americans are struggling to find work in today s economy. too many of those who are working are living paycheck to paycheck. more americans are living in poverty than when president obama took office, and 15 million more are on food stamps. my plan will create 12 million new jobs over the next four years. i m sorry, that was actually a little poetic license by jimmy kimmel live. but now mr. romney really does care. just listen as he explained his compassionate side to nbc s ron mott last night. don t forget, i got everybody in my state insured, 100 b% of e kids in our state has health insurance. i don t think there s anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record. wow, what a great argument for defending the president a s affordable care act. achievement in massachusetts? i would expect most politicians in the civilized world wo
this country than that kind of rhetoric. i will repeal obama care and replace it with real health ca rm 10f ki in our state have health insurance. my state was a leading indicator of what liberals have been trying to do across t country. 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance. i was a severely conservative republican governor. i don t thk there s ything that shows morempnd c abtheof this country. i m not familiar with precisely with what exactly i said but i stand by what i said whatever it was. and it is on. yes, in person voting is under way in the first battleground state of iowa where lines were snaking out the door in many polling places today with voters eager to make their choice shcc t w house for the next four years. indeed, voters in 30 states are now casting ballots either by absentee or in person, including the battlegrounds of new hampshire, north carolina, wisconsin, and virginia. while they say vginis lo, y asor fighters with the candidates